


Batgirl: Arkham Asylum

by IAmMattis



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Arkham (Video Games)
Genre: AU, Barbara Gordon is Batgirl, Barbara Gordon is not crippled, F/F, F/M, Gen, Past Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29524257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmMattis/pseuds/IAmMattis
Summary: Filling in for Batman who's away on a mission, Batgirl is in for a bumpy night at the Asylum where the Joker takes over.
Relationships: Barbara Gordon/Original Male Character(s), Pamela Isley & Original Character(s)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is an request I got from a fellow writer here on write Batgirl and everything that occurred in Arkham Verse.
> 
> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

**The Voice Cast:**

**Ashley Greene: Barbara Gordon/** **Batgirl**

**Jensen Ackles: Jericho Brown**

**Jonathan Banks: James Gordon**

**Steve Blum: Waylon Jones/Killer Croc**

**Taia Valenza: Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy.**

**Mark Hamill: Joker**

**Arleen Sorkin: Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn.**

**Will Friedle as Shawn Anderson/Prophet**

**-**

**Arkham Asylum** **  
**

  
Jericho chuckled picking himself up looking around the improvised gladiator arena, bodies laying around. "What a mess."

Batgirl was massaging her right arm. "No kidding." 

They both stared into each others eyes, having been lost in the moment. Gordon was out cold following the electric shocks caused by the knocked out Joker so they wouldn't worry about him catching them.

**Barbara Gordon: If there's one thing I learned is that Love Kills. Do I love him? Was there a choice? The past is a gaping hole. The more you run, the deeper it grows until it gnaws at your heels. The only chance you have is to face it head on. But it's like looking down to the grave of your love or kissing the mouth of the gun, trembling at its dark nest, ready to blow your lead off.**

The two lovers on the opposite sides of justice shared a passionate kiss. ****

-

**5 years ago**

**Gotham General.**

**Barbara Gordon: When I woke up in the Hospital after Joker shot me in my own apartment five years ago, I thought to myself that was it. My late night activities as Batgirl was over. No more making white lies to my father who is the Police Commissioner of GCPD. No more running off the rooftops. No more Batgirl. How Ironic. My constant worries that** **I might be found as Batgirl but instead Joker shot me because I'm the Commissioner's daughter.  
  
** _Jim Gordon was talking to his daughter's doctor regarding the extent of her injuries caused by the clown. Barbara was sleeping in her room, pumped up with sedatives to ease her pain. "Doctor, I've had a crappy night, so please tell me that you have some good news."_

_"Well, lucky for you, I have, commissioner." Doctor Nash told him. "The bullet that the Joker shot your daughter with, narrowly missed the spinal cord. She should count herself lucky, she would've been paralyzed from the waist down."_

_Jim didn't know whether to jump for joy or choking the life out of the doctor. But he restrained himself, for her sake_ ** _. "_ ** _And there are no damages to the other organs?"_ **  
**

_"No. But I recommend that she should be in a wheel chair for few months just to make sure that she doesn't cause any permanent damage. And with rehabilitation training and proper rest, she should make a full recovery."_ **  
**

_"Thank God."_

_Barbara groggily opened her eyes, her body feeling like she went 10 rounds with Muhammad Ali as she looked around the hospital room she was staying in._

**Barbara Gordon: I was hurt. My Body wracked in pain. And then I remembered why I was lying in bed: everything that happened in my Apartment. The photos. The Sociopathic laughter. The shot. His words echoing in my head like a broken recorder.** ****

Joker: Come on, show a little spine.

_"Barb!" Gordon rushed in to the room once he saw his little girl all awake. "You ok, sweetie?"_

_Barbara struggled to make a complete sentence recalling everything in vivid past. "I-I remember. O-oh god, I remember." She started to sob._

_His heart breaking, Gordon could only comfort her by hugging, soothing her pain. "It's gonna be alright."_

_It wasn't gonna be alright._

**-**

**Present day.**

**12 hours earlier.**

**Barbara Gordon: A false start. The hospital room wasn't the beginning, rather the middle. A reminder of what had occurred. A point of no return event. After my near death experience with the Joker, Dad was even more protective than usual. He wanted to know where I was at all times. I put my foot down telling him that there is a difference of protective and controlling. Realizing **that, he gave me some leniency. Luckily it didn't hinder with my other job.****

It was a rainy day in Gotham, the city of corruption. The one with the highest death rate in the states. It has a lot of rainy days especially in the Halloween season. And unfortunately for citizens of Gotham, the Joker, the Clown prince of Crime found the perfect day which was All hallow's eve to invade Mayor Garcia's office, killing some of his staff members and hold him hostage for two hours until Batgirl intervened, filling in for Batman who's with the Justice League on a mission. He almost immediately surrendered without much of a fight to the surprise of many including Batgirl.

As Batgirl made her way to the Asylum from the main island with Joker in handcuffs in a customized Chevy Impala, courtesy of her ex assassin Boyfriend, She thought about the events that occurred in the City Hall. Even though she didn't say it loud, something was off about this capture. 

**Barbara Gordon: It was supposed to be simple. Send him back to Arkham and hopefully make it back home just in time for dinner but yet, something was off. Way off and I was about to find out the hard way.**

-

**Arkham Island**

**Arkham Asylum.**

The gates opened to reveal Batgirl pushing the joker to meet up with Warden Quincy Sharp flanked by several of his guards, impatiently waiting for the heroine. She noted a lot of changes. 

The Joker had a Cheshire grin when he laid his eyes on the warden. "Hey, Sharpie. Love what ya done with the place." He greeted, noting the renovation that has taken place since Asylum was reopened several years ago following the Blackgate Riots.

Not to be perturbed by the mad man, the political aspiring Warden glared harshly. "That's Warden Sharp to you. Boles!"

One of the Guards named Frank Boles walked up to them. "Yo Frankie! How are the wife and Kids! Did ya miss me?" Joker said as if he was greeting an old friend.

"Shut it, clown!" Frank snarled grabbing the Joker by the neck, shutting him up for now. Batgirl cringed slightly, feeling the stench of alcohol emitting from Frank's mouth. "A lot of people here really want to you."

"Really? I'm looking forward to our little reunion, Frankie."

He then took Joker with several weapons trained on him and strapped him to a gurney with some aid from his fellow guards. "Not so tight, boys. You'll creak the suit." Joker let out one of his maniacal laughters as they made sure that they won't let him out like last time by tightened the restraints on his ankles and wrists.

"Get that flithy degenerate out of here!" Warden Sharp demanded. Batgirl who had that sinking feeling since arriving at the Asylum decided to follow the Clown Prince of Crime to his cell.

"Something's not right, Warden. I'm going with him." Batgirl told him. She went to follow the Joker, not taking eyes off the man who nearly crippled her five years ago. 

"Oh, I wish Bats was here. He would've loved the upgrades done to this place." Joker mused as he went through various control check ups. Batgirl restrained an eye roll at his disgusting jokes then she spotted some of inmates that were from black gate being escorted to their cells on the other side.

"Is the commissioner here yet, Officer Nolan?" Batgirl asked one of the guards.

"Yes, Ma'am. He's waiting for you at the patient handover. Got here minutes before you did." Officer Nolan informed her as they stopped by the elevators waiting for one of the elevators to stop at their level.

**Barbara Gordon: An Impromptu take your daughter to work day. Great. Just the thing I needed. Note the sarcasm.**

"Can't you smell the excitement in the air? No? Must be one of the guards then." Joker wondered before looking over his shoulder seeing 10 ft tall reptilian man all chained up with a huge shock collar stepping out of the elevator, his foots making loud thuds on the floor like earth was shaking. "Croc, old boy! Is that you?"

"Keep your weapons trained on him at all times!" Officer Nolan commanded.

**Barbara Gordon: Waylon Jones aka Killer Croc. Born with regressive atavism. Combine with the fact he grew up in an abusive home with an alcoholic aunt after his father left him high dry right following the death of his wife in childbirth and you have a monster in the making. He earned the nickname after working at a circus as a wrestler and then became a cannibalistic killer resenting the humanity for the abuse he endured.**

Croc sniffed picking up her scent. "I got your scent, Batgirl. I will hunt you down." Croc growled before being silenced by an electric collar around his neck. 

"Get that thing outta here, now!" Officer Sutton ordered as Croc moved to the gates.

"A toy dollar won't stop me from killing you Batgirl." Croc growled before the gates shut behind him. "I'll rip you apart, eat your bones!!"

Batgirl shook her head while Joker remained nonplussed. "That reminds me, I really need to get some new shoes." Joker said as his gurney was pushed to the elevator.

"A late night for a party." Joker gushed as the elevator was taking him, the guards and Batgirl up to the lower levels of the intensive treatment building.   
  
"Not where you're going." Batgirl deadpanned.

The clown criminal chuckled. "Night is still young, kiddie. I still got trick or two up my sleeves." 

That caused some alarm bells in Batgirls mind. He was definitely up to something devious but what exactly?

"I need to know something. You've never let anyone capture you this easily. What are you really up to?" Batgirl inquired, knowing she'll never get an answer.

Joker simply shrugged. "Oh, Nothing much. Hundreds of dying in pain and fear. All their meaningless lives brought to a horrifying conclusion. All because of you and box of matches. Was that the answer you wanted?"

 _"Not really."_ Batgirl thought to herself as the elevator came to a stop, arriving at its destination.

 _"Intensive Treatment at the lower floors are now in level red al_ _pha."_ The speaker announced as they stepped out of the elevator dragging the Joker's restrained body to the reception where Commissioner Gordon was signing some papers at the desk. Batgirl sighed, seeing her father from a distance. This was gonna be awkward.

"Long night, Commissioner?" Batgirl said. The elderly Gordon scoffed putting away the pen as he went to meet up with her.

"Joker invades City Hall and holds the mayor hostage, leaving it to me to juggle SWAT teams, the media and you." Gordon summarized what he had to deal with as he went with her. "Yeah, it's been one helluva night."

"Hopefully the last we'll ever have with him." Batgirl said as Joker was freed from the trolley bed and was now on foot being led by Frank Boles who placed the hand cuffs on him. 

  
**Barbara Gordon: Even though I didn't know it at the time, something told me in the back of my mind that I was about to regret those words 5 minutes later.**

-

Somewhere in Asylum, A female who was wearing a nurse outfit was looking at the security feed where Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon inside a security room where a guard was laid out on the floor. Having heard the whole thing, she huffed.

"Yeah, right."

-

A guard along with a orderly in front of the security gate held his hand up apologetically to stop them. "Hold it there. I'm sorry, Batgirl. Arkham staff only." 

"I assure you, if anyone would be qualified it's..." Gordon said coming to the defense but was cut off. 

"Listen, I appreciate the assistance, but she'll unsettle the more violent inmates." Guard replied as he took over Bole's role as he grabbed Joker's arm.

"I think he's talking about you, kiddie. Don't be a stranger, you'll always be welcomed here." Joker leered towards the redheaded heroine who looked at him in distain as he was being led by the guard and the doctor through the gate. "Got to say, it's good to be back." 

Batgirl narrowed her eyes in suspicion. The growing uneasiness in her stomach intensified ten times more just by his words. "He surrendered almost immediately. I don't like it."

"At least he's back where he belongs." Gordon reassured her as they were watching the Joker tripping over from a control room over as he fell to his knees in the corridor where some of the inmates were being contained inside the holding cells.  
  


"Get up. Now!" The guard ordered as Joker had a devious grin on his face. He rammed his head into the guard's nose, breaking it and then kicked the orderly in the stomach to the floor. Batgirl and the Commissioner were stunned by what had just happened. 

"Joker's loose! Alert the warden!" Batgirl ordered as she tried to break through the glass of the control room while Joker was now choking the guard with the chain of his cuffs.

"Hurry, We're losing him doc!! Joker cackled as Boles was trying to use his key card to open the gates but to the chagrin of others it didn't work. 

"I can't open the gates! We're being locked out!" Boles told both the Gordons.

Batgirl knew what she had to do now as the orderly had no choice to un cuff the Joker with a key he picked up hastily from his pocket in order to save the guard's life. 

Disposing the guard who'd passed out, Joker kicked the orderly in the stomach once again, knocking him out this time.

"The choke's on you." Joker said to the passed out guard. Freed at last, the Joker giggled as he pointed at the gat in front of him while looking into a security camera.

"Honey, I'm home!!" Joker said to whoever it was on the other side. it was the female inmate dressed as nurse who swiped a security card opening the gate for him.

"Come on in." She replied.

Batgirl broke through the glass and landed on the floor as Joker fled through the gate. "Welcome to the madhouse, Batgirl! I set it a trap and you sprang it gloriously! Now let's get this party started!!" He declared as the holding cells opened their gates and out stepped some inmates eagerly looking forward to get a pound of flesh from Batgirl.

**Barbara Gordon: I've just became the guest of honor at Joker's party and he's got a whole welcoming committee to greet me.**

-

**The Cauldron.**

Meanwhile somewhere in the Cauldron, A young man in his mid twenties with dark hair and green eyes was doing push ups on the concrete floor at one of his safehouses when the computer set out an alarm. Stopping at what he was doing, he walked up to the computers and a pressed a key on the keyboard to see where the alarm came from and was surprised to see the location.  
"Arkham Asylum. Well, this is a surprise." He mused. "Who's there?"

  
The computer revealed Batgirl inside the Asylum. He sighed shaking his head in amusement. "Well, looks like beloved may need some help."

-


	2. Scared.

**Barbara Gordon: There are two kinds of love. One of dreams and other realist. And there's the third party, one of passion that will consume you from within. Leaving you wanting more of the fire it ignited within you.**

Batgirl stared into her lover Jericho's green eyes, cupping his cheeks with her hands.

**Barbara Gordon: I'd be lying if I want to give myself in to passion with him, just forgetting my responsibilities and succumb into my temptations. But I am getting ahead of myself. I restart from the beginning, trace my steps to the scene of the crime.**

She pressed her lips to his, the star crossed couple sharing an intimate moment in the midst of chaos.

**-**

**Barbara Gordon: I wanted him dead. For one brief moment of irrationality, I wanted to kill Joker for what he put me through in my apartment when I got out of the hospital in a wheel chair but if I did that, I'd be proving him right. His philosophy was that it only takes one bad day for anyone to become as vile as he was. So I stuck to my principals, I vowed to myself that I would never let stoop myself to his level and preventing someone from going through what I went through that night.**

After disposing last member of the party committee thanks to the Joker with round house kick to the head, Batgirl readjusted her cape looking around the corridor of the Holding cells. During her brawl with some of the inmates, the Joker fled to safety, no doubt initiating whatever he's got planned.

"The system is jammed. We're stuck in here. Joker is in full control of security gates." Gordon told Batgirl from the control room. She figured as much given the fact Boles's security card was rejected immediately.

"Commissioner, try to contact the warden from the control room. Let him know that Joker's escaped." Batgirl advised her father.

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna find him and put him in a hole where he belongs." She went through the gate to follow his trail through the Processing Corridor.

"Don't make promise that you can't keep, kid." The usual jovial tone of the joker was replaced of a very dangerous one. Batgirl looked up to see Joker staring at her from the camera at a unknown part of the asylum. "I'm in control of the asylum and Dear ol' bat isn't here to protect you. you're not gonna go anywhere I don't want to."

"I'm counting on it." Batgirl retorted taking the clown prince off guard slightly.

No time to waste. It was game time.

She pressed the left side of her cowl to contact her broker while ignoring a dead guard nearby as the alarms went off dues to multiple breaches at various levels of the asylum. Every where he goes, death was sure to follow.

"Prophet do you copy?"

-

**Chinatown.**

Somewhere in Gotham, A young man in his 20s with red hair and blue eyes was sitting on a chair munching some candy in front of several computer screens inside an penthouse when Batgirl contacted him.

"Loud and clear, boss lady. What's up? How did it go with the transfer?" He asked, his mouth a bit full with the candy.

_"There were complications. Joker gave us the slip and is now running free in Arkham."_

Stopping the eating, He put away the candy and went into as he liked to call it, focus mode typing on the keyboard. "Shit. How's your dad? Is he ok?"

 _"Dad's safe. Joker's not far ahead. I'll let you know more when I find him."_ Batgirl told him. _  
_

"Be careful, boss lady." Prophet advised.

_"Aren't I always?"_

_-_

**_Arkham Asylum_ **

**_Pacification Room._ **

Entering the hallway of the pacification room, Batgirl met up with some of the guards trying to diffuse a situation that's gotten out of hand.

"What's happening?" Batgirl asked one of the guards who let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the heroine.

"It's Zsasz, he's got Mike. he's strapped to a chair, Zsasz has totally lost it."

**Barbara Gordon: Victor Zsasz. He's what Bruce could've been if he was consumed by the darkness surrounding Gotham. A billionaire playboy who lost his parents in a boating accident, gambled away all his money to the Penguin and in a moment of insanity found his true purpose: A killer. Consumed by marking his body with each kill he makes, he's become somewhat a perverted messiah, determined to liberate people from a pointless existence. His words.**

"Wait here. I'll go rescue him." She instructed the guard that was talking to her.  
  


"You can't. He'll kill Mike if he sees anyone get close."

**-**

Zsasz was looking around the room to make sure that no one would risk while Mike was trying to break free from his restraints while being strapped to a chair. "If I see anything that resemble a teeny tiny bat, this guard dies. Do you hear me?!" He pressed the remote control he had in his hand to give the 7 year veteran guard a shock, just to get the message across. the Former billionaire laughed in delight before being suddenly struck down to the cold floor by a Batgirl who had gone up top and use the gargoyles to gain the tactical advantage on him. Knowing that he won't stay down for long, Batgirl swiped his feet off and kicked the side of Zsasz's head, rendering him out cold. ****

"And the crowd goes wild." Batgirl muttered, she went to free Mike from the chair he was confided too. "You ok, Mike?"

"Never better. thanks." Mike thanked the redhead as she spotted Harley Quinn sporting a nurse outfit adjusting the camera from a security room on a computer center not far from where she was. 

**Barbara: Harleen Quinzel aka Harley Quinn. A former Arkham psychiatrist who had a severe case of mad love when she turned into a life of crime as Joker's lover. Unfortunately for her, it's a one way street as she had to endure endless abuse and neglect from her 'puddin'.**

"Oh hiya, B-girl! Harley Quinn here. How do you like my new uniform? Pretty hot, huh?" She twirled around while presenting herself in an eligible. Batgirl narrowed her eyes at Joker's girlfriend. Harley was a lot of things but hot wasn't even the word she would use to describe her... daring clothing.

"Oh, I've got something to show you. One second, B-girl." Harley left to retrieve something or someone in this chase which was Quincy Sharp, the warden of Arkham Asylum. He was strapped to a chair while having a duct tape applied to his mouth to keep him shut. This just got from bad to worse. 

"I'm now subbing for the old man." Harley purred. The warden looked out of place and very uncomfortable. "Old Sharpie's never been happier! In case ya ain't figured it out, today's the Joker's big homecoming and you're the guest of honor."

"You have one chance to surrender, Harleen." Batgirl demanded. 

"Tempting, but no dice. Now the inmates are running the Asylum. Well, technically they're Joker's goons shipped in from Blackgate, but you get the idea. Bye bye for now!" Harley used the cane she stole from the Warden to knock the camera away, the screens turning into statics as the feed ended abruptly. 

-

Yet another thing to worry about. Batgirl sighed while thinking about the situation at hand. First Joker's free now Warden's being taken as a hostage. What else could happen right now that would make the situation possibly worse than it already is?

_"Batgirl can you hear me?"_

"I'm here, Prophet. what's going on?" Batgirl asked her informant.

_"Arkham Asylum just vanished off the network."_

"He's taken control of the security system. He must've isolated it from the gird." Batgirl speculated.

 _"That's not all he's done, boss lady."_ Prophet added. _"All police feeds are reporting that he planted bombs all over Gotham. He pretty much threatened GCPD he will detonate them if any one dares to step a foot on Arkham Island. It's being suppressed for now but the story will break soon enough."_

Batgirl sighed rubbing her forehead in irritation. Just what she needed. Yay. "Send Robin to investigate the bomb threats. Last thing we need right now is Gotham going into panic mode, especially now that Batman is not there. Let me know what else comes up on the Police radio. I got a clown to catch."

_"Roger that, boss lady."_

Batgirl then saw that the control panel to open the gate was locked so that she could not escape or so Harley Quinn thought. She activated the detective mode that was installed into her cowl to find a possible escape route. She spotted a ventilation shaft would lead her to the processing corridor. She broke the hinges before crouching down to crawl through the air passage.

"Hey! Batgirl found a way out!" One of guards saw what she was doing and alerted his comrades.

**Barbara Gordon: As I crawled through the tightened air passage in an asylum for the criminally insane, a horrifying but plausible thought entered my mind. What if this wasn't no ordinary escape attempt? What if it was something else entirely? I had to know more.**

"Prophet, I ran into some of Joker's men that were transferred out of Blackgate at the holding cells. Can you find out the cause of it in the transfer records?"

 _"Hold on."_ Batgirl waited patiently as she dropped down to the corridor that would lead to decontamination room from the vent. _"There was a fire incident that took place at cell block C almost six days ago. It's the most notorious block where most of the inmates have worked for Joker. Do you think that's the reason why he escaped from custody?"_

Batgirl shook her head no. Joker doesn't care about anybody but himself. His ego is two times bigger than Lex Luthor's. "No. That's not it. Joker could care less about them. This is something else entirely. He's been planning this for months."

The decontamination room unexpectedly underwent lockdown when some kind of green gas spew through the room from the canisters causing the guards inside the room to laugh uncontrollably as they collapsed to floor within seconds. Batgirl immediately recognized the signature logo on one of the canisters which was a green devious smile.

"Joker toxin." Batgirl breathed. Joker toxin is a very lethal gas that hyper simulates the laughter functions of the brain, leaving the victims unable to breathe. It's similar to nitrous oxide and one of his infamous trademark gags. It's too late to save any of them now but there might be other guards who escaped from the toxic gas. 

-

**Decontamination room**

"Just hang it there, Steve! Help's on the way!" Ron who had worked in Arkham for two yeas was trying to give Steve some hope in a hopeless situation. Steve was trying to climb back up from the ledge of a platform above the floor but he was having some difficulty doing so due to him being slightly overweight.

"I... I can't hold on for much longer! I'm gonna fall!" Steve grunted trying to hold on for dear life. But he didn't want to worry about falling to a certain death as Batgirl arrived at the scene and helped him up.

"You're gonna be fine. Stay here." Batgirl said. 

Ron was relieved to see Steve out of harms way, thanks to Batgirl. "Batgirl! The extraction system! Steve was trying to get to the control panel at the end of the room." He shouted from the other side.

  
Of course. If she can use a well aimed Batarang to hit the control panel, she could power it up and it would clear the room out of the toxic gas. Using the detective mode while jumping from platform to platform at the end of the room to locate the control panel. She took a Batarang lining up the throw before tossing the Batarang to hit the panel, activating the extraction system and soon enough the room was clear of the poisonous gas. She jumped down from the platform she was on, using her cape to glide so she can land safely onto the floor before heading to the transfer loop while the guards cheered for her to kick the Joker's ass.

**Barbara Gordon: Up and down. Scrambling through dead bodies and toxic air like smoke. If I was a weak minded person, I would've let myself die of laughter right there and then.**

-

**Transfer Room.**

**Barbara Gordon: When I made it to the transfer room, Joker w** **as waiting for me, no doubt wanting to show whatever devious scheme he had cooked up this time.**

Joker was standing on a mobile security cell by the time she got to the transfer room.

"What took you so long, kid?" Joker asked her.

Frowning, Batgirl threw a Batarang at him. Joker ducked under while Batarang bounced off the chains in surprise. "Hey! Watch where you're throwing, kid. You almost cut my head off!" Joker exclaimed.

"What are you really up to Joker?!" Batgirl demanded. "I know you're not trying to escape."

"I'm glad you asked." Joker replied. The cell door opened revealing something out of a Frankenstein movie as an inhuman beast jumped down to the floor causing Batgirl to take a few steps back in caution of seeing how huge he was compared to her. "Ooh, He's a big one!!"

The muscular beast roared in anger before charging at Batgirl. Batgirl jumped to the side, avoiding the collision before landing a few hits on the monster that remained unaffected. What the hell did Joker do to this man that was a real life Frankenstein monster? Did Bane somehow give him the Venom formula? No, Bane wouldn't associate with a sociopath like the Joker. 

The beast swung his large fist wildly at the heroine who dodged them with ease. Joker was displeased with how the fight was going in the background.

"C'mon! Even my grand mother can throw a better punch than that!" Joker complained over how easily Batgirl was taking control of the situation. "Though it's hardly surprising, I suppose. It's very hard to some good help around these parts nowadays!"

Ignoring the mad man's commentary, Batgirl tried to hit the man beast with quick jabs, relying on her boxing skills she gained when she was a teenager. Batgirl was then left perplexed when the man beast clutched his chest as his heart was beating too fast and stopped completely causing the beast to collapse to floor dead. The beast had died from an apparent heart attack brought on by some chemical cocktail Joker had injected his henchman with.

"Well, that was unexpected wasn't it?" Joker sighed as he face palmed in dejection. "Oh well. Note to self: Need stronger test subjects."

While Batgirl was examining the body, Joker activated the transfer cell, escorting him. "Well, then. It's time for me to make my exit stage right. I would love to stay here and chat with you but I got a party to organize. I got guests flying all over Arkham. You'll see." He giggled as he entered the extreme isolation building, the gates closing behind. Batgirl took a moment to look around the carnage left by the jester of genocide.

**Barbara Gordon: There were wrecks all round and not the ones set up for a weekend project. These were the ones you wanted to avoid.**

A guard who was out cold in a control room was regaining consciousness and spotted Batgirl. "Hey batgirl! over here!" 

Batgirl looked up and saw the guard opening the gate for her to enter. "They came out of nowhere. I dragged Jerry in here. Powered up the gate. Must've passed out." The guard explained what had occurred as batgirl entered the room.

"Joker went through that gate. What's on the other side?" Batgirl questioned the guard.

"We call it extreme isolation. Only way in is through the gateway system." The guard told her.

"Open it." 

"Not a problem. I just need to call another cell." The guard went to do what he told the heroine but ran into the complications when his request was denied. "That's strange. the Main Security loop is locked."

That's not good. As Batgirl went to help the guard, Joker's face appeared on a security tv screen. "Having a little trouble out there?"

Batgirl's glare darkened upon seeing the green haired criminal with his signature grin. "Joker."

"Were you expecting maybe Killer Moth?" Joker asked rhetorically.

"Whatever you're planning, Joker. I'm putting an end to it."

"Be careful there, silly girl. I can see good old batman is rubbing off on you." Joker teased. Batgirl did not take the bait for banter. "Oh don't be such a brooding bat. I have already enough fill of it. Getting back to the topic, if you're planning on following me I got myself a little insurance."

  
What was about happen next would shatter Batgirl's heart into pieces when Joker showed security footage of his so called 'insurance'. After she left the holding cells to follow Joker's trail, Her father was about to contact Warden Sharp when Frank Boles hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out. "Gordon is on his way to Harley as we speak!"

"Officer Boles!" Batgirl gasped as Joker cackled.

"If I see you try to follow me, He dies. Harley is looking forward to it. Maybe I should film it and post it on the internet."

-

**Transfer Loop**

**Barbara Gordon: I couldn't breathe. The corridor was getting smaller. I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown. My worst fears had come to fruition and for the second time, I felt powerless. I was also** **experiencing a moment of deja vu. Back to that night in my apartment where Joker pulled the cruelest joke of all on me. But yet it was nothing compared to what was gonna happen next.** ****

**  
**Batgirl was overwhelmed by the recent events as she was trying to get a hold of herself emotionally in the corridor. This can't be happening. How did this happen? How did this happen under her watch? Her father should be safe. But instead a guard on joker's payroll took a cheap shot and handed him over to Joker's girlfriend.

Unfortunately for Batgirl, it was about to get a whole lot worse for her as she was starting to cough while inhaling some kind of gas at the most inopportune time.

"What the hell?" Batgirl muttered looking around to see she was no longer in the transfer loop corridor, she was back at her apartment. She spotted her duplicate reading a copy of socrates on the sofa when the door bell rung. Her duplicate sighed as she got up from the couch to answer the door. She opened the door and to her horror, saw the Joker dressed as a pizza man.

_"Candy gram!" Joker announced gleefully as Barbara scooted away from the clown in fear and ran for the phone only to be shot in the back by the Joker with a revolver._

Batgirl had her eyes closed, not wanting to relieve that night. She had enough trips down the memory lane as it is. _"Oh don't pass out just yet. C'mon. Show a little spine." Joker sneered while taking photos of her prone body. He took the liberty of unbutton her blouse just for his pleasure. "Oh wait until your father gets home. He's gonna be furious about all this mess."_

_"Why... Are you... doing this?" Barbara panted while being unable to move._

_"To prove a point. Here's to crime." Joker told her simply while taking off his cap in salute before exiting the apartment in delight leaving an injured Barbara in his wake._

"No. No. No. " Batgirl muttered trying to block out the horrid gunshot. The duplicate suddenly got up and walked up to her.

_"Poor little Barbara. Always trying to live up to your mentor's expectations. But yet it seems that you just don't make the cut." the hallucination Barbara taunted Batgirl while taking in mock disappointment like a disapproving mother. "Tsk, tsk. Look at you, weeping for your poor daddy. Sorry, girl, but you're just not up for it. "_

The scenery changed from Barbara's apartment to Gotham Cemetery where a younger Jim Gordon along with a young Barb had just attended the funeral of his wife and the mother of their daughter following a car accident that caused her death several weeks ago.

_"I'm gonna miss mommy." Barb whimpered, tears mixed with rain that was pouring down from the sky like the heavens was weeping in sorrow, ran down her cheeks. Jim sighed kneeling in front of his daughter._

_"I'm gonna miss her too, honey. But just because she's not with us, she'll always be a part of us."_

_Sniffling, she looked into her father's eyes with a small glint of hope. "Really?”_

_"Of course.” He said before pressing a kiss to the forehead in reassurance. ”Remember what your mother used to tell you?”_

_”That there’s always light at the end of the tunnel despite how small it may be?”_

_GCPD Lieutenant nodded. ”Mhmm. Now come on, let's go home. I'll get you ice cream."_

A maniacal but jovial laughter replaced the sound of rain in the background and a man who was on borderline skinner than a Victoria secret super model dressed as a scarecrow appeared in front of her. 

"What's the matter, Batgirl? Are you scared?" She knew the mischievous voice.

**Barbara Gordon: Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow. Another former Arkham psychiatrist who specialized on fear. He was fired from the Asylum following several of his unethical experiments in attempt to break his patients irrational fears. He turned to a life to crime as the notorious scarecrow, spreading his fear toxin to innocent people making them live through their worst fears. Though he picked the wrong person and the wrong day to have one of his 'sessions' with.**

Revigoruated by her father’s comfort in her recent memory, Batgirl concentrated on those words told by her mother before her passing blocking everything out, the cementery faded into black and soon enough she was back in the Transfer corridor with Scarecrow looming over her.

"Well, batgirl. it seemed that dose of the latest fear toxin had some profound results. So tell me, what are your greatest fears?"

She opened her eyes and glared at the former Arkham psychiatrist. ”I’m afraid that I’m gonna have to reschedule my appointment, _doctor_." 

Crane’s eyes behind the mask bulged in shock, not believing what he was seeing. ”Impossible?!" As he tried to inject another dose of his fear toxin from his needle glove, Batgirl caught his wrist and gave Scarecrow a hard side kick to the stomach sending him across the corridor. "You should be quivering in terror right now. How are you still standing?"

"It's a trade secret." Batgirl said point blank before smashing her foot into Crane's leg, breaking it in two. Scarecrow screamed in pain clutching his now injured leg. "Now let's see what are your greatest fears, doctor!" She grabbed one of his needle gloves and injected the fear toxin through the neck. Scarecrow gasped feeling the toxin pumping through his blood stream.

"What's wrong? Are you _Scared_?" Batgirl taunted Scarecrow by mocking his words from earlier, making him relieve his own fears as he was looking at Batgirl as a bat like monster, her fellow rat brethren surrounding her. Scarecrow let out a howl of horror that echoed through the hallway.

-

**Holding Cells.**

Tossing a whimpering Scarecrow into one of the holding cells, Batgirl took a moment to recover while the automated door to the cell that was holding Crane shut itself on its own.

_"Can you hear me, Barbara?! What's going on?"_

Batgirl let out a sigh of relief hearing Prophet's voice in the comms. "I'm ok, Prophet. Just had a run in with Scarecrow who injected me with the latest version of his fear toxin." 

_"Did it work?"_

Batgirl chuckled. It didn't. In fact it was what the doctor ordered. A good kick to the back side was all she needed to regain her focus. "No. Thankfully it didn't."

 _"So what happened to the good doctor?"_ Prophet Inquired. 

Batgirl glanced at the former Arkham employee who was reduced to catatonic state with a smirk. "Let's just say that he's getting a taste of his own medicine."

**Barbara Gordon: That Megalomaniac can enjoy his trip to Looneyville.**


	3. Break

**Holding Cells.**

**Barbara Gordon: After cancelling my ’session' and placing Scarecrow in a holding cell, I went back to where I was before taking a time wasting detour which was setting up a crime scene at the control room to find a trail that would lead me to my father and Harley Quinn. It suddenly dawned on me that i should’ve gotten my head back in the game sooner than I'd hoped. But it's too late for that now.**

She initalized the detective mode in her cowl to set up a virtual crime scene and began searching the room for clues. 

_”So how did it go during the session with Dr. Crane? Did you make any progress or were you just simply bored out of your mind? I mean why bother spend thousands of dollars on seeing a shrink when all you can do is watch some videos on YouTube about finding happiness. "_

Ignoring Joker’s tease about her encounter with the Master of Terror, She spotted a used flask with the intitals F.B. Boles must’ve dropped his flask while handing her father over to Harley. That was sloppy. She can scan the flask via the forensic scanner and follow traces of alcohol from Frank’s burbon in the atmosphere.

With cautious hope, She left the holding cells folllowing the alcohol traces to the secure transit. She saw one of the guards trying to use the panel to call for the elevator.

”How did Joker get free?” The guard inquired. Batgirl didn’t have the time to answer his question as she politely shushed him looking up to see the alcohol traces leading upstairs. Her father was taken to the surface through the elevator.

Before she could request the guard to call for the elevator, Harley Quinn made an surprise appearance.

”AH AH AH, B-Girl! Mistah J doesn’t wanna you follow us just yet!" Harley chided before pressing a button with her thumb down on a remote detonator, setting a bomb placed on the cables. the cables were destroyed and The Elevator was descending down to the lower levels at an alarming pace.

”Get down!” Batgirl pushed the guard away as he got a little too close for comfort before leaping out of the way as the Elevator came crashing down. Shelding her eyes from the sparks with her forearm that emitted from the now destroyed elevator, Batgirl checked herself to see some stratches on her customized Nomex suit that was given to her from Lucius last Christmas. Her old suit was keep getting damaged and she wanted to have something that would be somewhat resistant to tear.

She looked around the transit to see Harley was not here any longer while the guard was recuprating. Must’ve escaped while Batgirl was resucing the guard from one of her death traps. 

She pressed the left side of her cowl to inform Prophet of the troubling devloplements. ”Prophet, we have another problem.”

-

**Gotham**

**Chinatown**

Shawn Anderson or Prophet as he gave the codename himself when He joined Bat family a few years was sitting on his chair, typing furiously on the keyboard when Batgirl came through the radio feed.

”What now?” Prophet groaned. ”Is it Two Face or that short Mad hattning, nursery rhyming, wonderland Creep Jervis? I swear, I’ll rather go to Star city than deal with him again.” 

Batgirl chuckled remembering his unfortnate encounter with the Mad Hatter some time ago. It was hilarious. _”Nothing of that sort. Commissioner Gordon’s been taken by Joker.”_

He did not see that coming. ”What?! How?!”

_”An Arkham Guard by the name of Frank Boles knocked him out at the holding cells and handed him over to Joker's girlfriend. I used the forensic scanner to pick up his trail that reeks of bourbon from his flask he dropped at the control room. Then Harley Quinn tried to slow me down. Dropped a elevator on me.”_

”Did it work?”

Batgirl chuckled once more _. ”No. Harley was never that smart. Run a background check on Officer Boles. There’s gotta be a reason why he’s working for Joker.”_

”You got it, Boss Lady." Prophet sighed while searching for everything related to Boles inside the city records. He's not getting enough paid for this. It's overtime.

-

**Arkham Asylum.**

**Intenstive Treatment Lobby.**

_”Ding Ding Dong. Arkham Asylum is now under new management. Here’s a quick update on what’s going on. Attention, We have a escapee dressed like a bat! Ho Ho! Shocking! Should be considered to be costumed and Dangerous."_

**Barbara Gordon: As I made it to the Lobby while ignoring the Joker’s announcement over the speakers, I began to understand how deep Officer Boles was in his cooperation with Joker. When i made it to the topside, Joker’s men had taken control of the transfer cell block corridor with weapons they stole from cold hands of the guards they killed. I had to use gargoyles to get past them taking them out silently. Joker had really thought his plan through.**

This is not good. Batgirl thought to herself as She witnessed some of the inmates gaining loading the firearms they took from one of the gargoyles she was on in the lobby. Looks like Joker’s men has gained access of the armory which spelt bad news for everyone. 

_”Batgirl, I did a background check on Frank boles like you asked me to. Frank Boles owned some of the notorious loan sharks a lot of money, 600 grand to be exact. He was a heavy gambler. Well, that was the case until someone put 700000 dollars deposit into his bank account 5 months ago. A guy named Jack Ruby."_ Prophet informed her.

Batgirl immediately recognized the name as an alias for the Mad man. ”One of Joker’s aliases." She deduced. "So, Boles was desperate enough to work for the joker to get the loan sharks off his back.”

_”And in return, Joker gets access to Asylum's Security system.” Prophet concluded._

”Exactly.”

She took out her upgraded remote hacking device, a device she designed herself when she became Batgirl that can hack into any technology and luckily thanks to the upgrades done to Asylum by Waynetech when it was reopened by Warden Sharp, there were plenty to hack.

She used the device to hack into a panel and cut off the lights. Using the dark to her advantage, she gilded off the gargoyle and dropped kick one of the thugs stunning the group. Batgirl got behind other henchmen clasping her hands around his waist, lifting him off the floor and slammed him hard into the cold floor, his head collided with it, making him pass out from the impact. She leaped back up to her feet and ran towards third henchmen, scaling up on him and used the sharp blades from one of her gauntlets to cut off the lamp above and brought it down on him, he was out like a light. No pun intended.

She drew out her batclaw and fired its claw to catch the third and last henchmen. She jumped in mid air, pulling the rope as she dragged the third henchmen to her and flipped him over, slamming him body first into the ground. The impact felt like an earthquake shaking the ground.

Standing over the henchmen, Batgirl felt the barrel of a rifle pressed into the side of her head as the last henchmen got the drop on her as the lights turned back on or so he thought.

"Die, Bat-Bitch!"

Batgirl had a smug smirk as she quickly disarmed him of his weapon and kneed him in the groin, earning a painful yelp before sweeping him off his feet and kicked him in the side of head, rendering him out cold. Some thugs never heave the lesson. If you wanna shoot, shoot and don't talk.

She brushed some dirt off her suit before laying her eyes on a body strapped to a trolley bed, his face painted green and white with his mouth open wide. There was a clipboard with the message **Dead End** written into it. His blank blue eyes stared into oblivion. She let out a sigh of dejection, knowing who it was. Frank Boles. Joker must’ve figured out how she was tracking her father. 

**Barbara Gordon: Dead end. How appropriate.**

”Hey, Batgirl! Over Here! Thanks for clearing out the lobby.” She turned around and saw a guard, Officer North stepping out of a hiding spot. 

”What happened here?" Batgirl inquired the Officer.

North exhaled a sharp breath, remembering what had taken place. ”It was a goddamn massacre. Boles came walking in and told everyone to cover the front entrance. Said something about Joker’s army heading to the main gate. Two of my guys moved to the exit and Frank shot them dead. They never stood a chance.”

”Was he alone?”

He shook his head no. ”I thought so but then I saw Harley Quinn. She was surrounded by Blackgate prisoners! They were just killing everyone in the room! I had no choice! I locked the door. I… Could see it on the security feed. Had someone with them. Looked like the commissioner.”

”Boles is dead." Batgirl informed North of the corrupt Guard's unfortunate demise. They carried on without them. Must’ve outlived his purpose." 

"Good! He was scum." North sneered.

**Barbara Good: It's nice to know that some things haven't changed in this city, which was bribing a city official with a 100 dollar bill.**

-  
 **Arkham East.**

**Barbara Gordon: As I made it to the island surface via the shower room, I overheard the radio reporting of Joker's takeover over the entire Island which was the icing on the cake I needed. I wondered briefly how Bruce doesn't panic every time when the situation like this occur but I suppose that he's had moments of doubt whether he can do it himself, so he's still human despite the rumors to the** **contrary.**

After making it back to the surface, Batgirl walked on the grounds of Arkham East, near the Botanical Garden, briefly studying the architecture of some of the building. Despite the interior had been modernized, the exterior still had pieces of the victorian structure it was built on. Her cowl alerted the Batgirl of the impala's sensor alarm which hinted someone was trying to smash the car.

Knowing who trigged the alarm, Batgirl contacted her broker. ”Prophet. Disable the Impala’s counter measure system!” She commanded via ear comms.

_”I saw the alert. Where are you?”_

”I’m outside the Mansion." Batgirl told him. "Harley Quinn must’ve triggered the alarm. If she’s still got my dad with her, he could get hurt.”

_”Done. The impala is still parked outside the intensive treatment building at Arkham North."_ Prophet informed _. "I’ve sent you the schematics over the entire island and marked key locations like the car.”_

”Thanks prophet. You’ve been a real help."

_”Well someone’s got to be. Besides, wouldn’t want your reformed assassin boyfriend to come down on me for ruining his baby."_

Batgirl was immediately defensive on her complicated relationship. ”He’s not my… Never mind.” Batgirl sighed realizing that it was no point of arguing with Prophet, especially she had been seeing _him_ for 4 years. She went through the gate and saw the impala still intact outside the Intenstive treatment building. But no sign of her father or Harley Quinn. She went to search the area around the impala hoping to find something.

”What the?” Batgirl was puzzled to see her father’s pipe on the muddy soil as it started to rain. She gave it to him for his birthday last year. There’s no way he’d leave it behind unless… 

Realizing why, she scanned the contents inside the pipe. Wild Country. His favorite tobacco. He knew she would scan it to follow his trail. Dad’s outdone himself again.

-

**Arkham West.**

**Medical Facility.**

But as soon as she got a new trace which led to the Medical facility at Arkham Asylum, another obstacle occured in a from of a security gate that blocked her entrance from entering the medical foyer where Harley Quinn was reading a newspaper article and Gordon was tied to a chair, safe for now which forced the librarian to find another way in via the rooftop where now she was crawling through the air duct tunnel where she saw some of Joker's men holding some of the medical staff at gunpoint.

**Barbara Gordon: Why did the Joker need the doctors? they weren't exactly ranking high on his list. He loathed most of the Arkham Staffs. But I didn't have the time to dwell on it as I was about to discover some of the architectural structure in this facility was clearly not up to date for librarian physique.**

the tunnel floor suddenly crumbled underneath her and she fell down to the floor of the Sanatorium where the henchmen saw her in the open.

"It's Batgirl! Kill her!"

Realizing that she had been had, She threw a smoke pellet from her utility belt to create a distraction simply out of improvisation, disorienting the henchmen's eye sight. Using the smoke to her advantage, She took them down by grabbing a rifle, using the butt to hit a henchmen's head and ram him into the railway, knocking him out completely. She flipped another by the arm to the floor, and broke it in two as she popped the elbow off. She grabbed third henchmen by the shirt, dragging him down to the hard floor and she knocked him out with a swift punch to the temple. She was grabbed from behind, she fought herself out of the predicament by using her elbows to the head and used the railway to flip over him, taking him down to the floor and finished him off with a heel kick to the head.

Batgirl glanced over her shoulder and saw the medical staff huddled in a corner. ”You’re safe now. what happened?” 

Dr. Cassidy breathed out a sigh of relief coming out of the corner. ”I don’t know what happened. One minute we were doing our evening rounds and the next armed thugs burst into the room taking us as hostage.”

”Did they have anyone with them?” Batgirl asked her.

”They took someone to the elevator. I didn’t know who it was.” Dr.Cassidy replied.

”They obivously didn’t want to be followed." Batgirl mused. "The elevators seemed to be powered down. You’re gonna be ok here!" 

Dr. Redknapp, the bald man in green clothing stepped forward. ”What about the others? Some of the inmates were heading down the hallway downstairs to round up the rest! Dr. Kellerman was in the Patient Observation room! And Dr. Chen went to Surgery."

"And Dr. Young went to X-ray." Dr. Cassidy added.

It seemed that her father's rescue was gonna have to wait. "Ok. Stay here. I'll find the other doctors."

-

**Obeservation Room.**

To say Max Payne was having another bad night would be a huge understatement. When he moved back to the States after he read the News about Anthony DeMarco Sr's death due to a heart attack , he didn't want to move back to NY. Too many bad memories were there. So he moved to a town that's even crazier than New York, Gotham accepting a Job as a guard at the Arkham Asylum a year ago. But hey, he should fit right in given the amount of craziness he went through.

He was in the observation control room with Dr Kellerman while two inmates were talking to their leader, Joker about the situation whilst unbeknownst to them, Batgirl had just entered the hallway and snuck up on them, ramming their heads into the glass, knocking them out at the same time.

”Nice Work, kid." Max Payne complimented.

**Barbara Gordon: Max Payne. Where do I start? Former NYPD/DEA. Did a brief stint at private security in South America before moving back to the States taking a job as a Guard at Arkham for a fresh start. Lost his wife and newborn daughter during a hit gone array. He has the highest kill count of any police officer in the country and single handlely brought down two of most promiment mob families in New York. But those days were gone and he's now trying to live a quiet life.**

”Max, What happened?” Batgirl asked the ex cop.

”There was an alarm in the medical and I found Doctor Kellerman lying on the floor." Max told her. "When He came to, the room was suddenly flooded with gas. The doors are locked down. We can’t get out.”

_”How brave. Let’s give Max Payne a round of applause. A real Payne in the ass, I'd tell ya.”_ Joker let out a laugh that would send chills down any ordinary man's spine.

Max did not find the pun amusing.”You’re a real riot, Joker. Ya know that?”

_”Oh lighten up, Maxie. Just trying to brighten mood."_

”Ignore him, Max." Batgirl advised. "Have you tried controlling the ventliation system in there?”

”We did, but it was a no go. Joker disabled the remote access.” Max admitted.

”I’ll find a way.” Batgirl reassured them as she used her grapple to get on a platform and crawled through the ventilation shaft to enter the main room safely. She used her detective mode to find three control panels that controls the fans. A well thrown batarang should do the trick. The First one was relative easy, the second one was under her So she had to jump across to another platform 

After doing what she had planned, the Observation room was soon enough cleared out of toxic gas.

Max and Dr. Kellerman stumbled out of the control taking huge gasps of air while Batgirl jumped down to the floor.

"Thanks." Max thanked her.

-

**X-Ray.**

When She got to Surgery, she was slightly disgusted at what she was seeing. Dr. Chen was on the verge of being dissected by Joker's men that were gonna use tools to see the organs inside. Not wanting to see that, She made quick work out of the Men, saving the Chinese immigrant. 

Now it was only Dr. Young left who was in X Ray.

When Batgirl came through doors, she saw a Screen that highlighted the predicament the Gotham U graduate was in through a security camera. Dr. Young was in the x-ray room, Surrounded by armed henchmen. Not good.

Lucky for her though, the walls of the room were weak enough to place some explosive gel on it, taking the armed men out simultaneously. After she sprayed the gel on both wall,s she walked to a safe distance and detonated them. Dr. Young shielded herself as the walls exploded, the men were knocked out by the blast. Once she realized that she was 

”What’s going on? They were talking like they were in control. Is it true that Joker escaped?” Dr. Young asked her, hoping that it wasn't.

Batgirl confirmed her fears.”Unfortunately, yes. But not for long.”

”I’ve been studying Joker’s case for months when he broke out." She revealed the reason why she was taken. "The warden was really specific about wanting joker cured."

Batgirl held back a snort. It was no secret to anyone that Quincy Sharp was caring more about his public image than his staff especially regarding his mayoral campaign against the current mayor and if it means trying to do the impossible by having the clown prince rehabilitated so be it. ”Bad publicity would affect his chances of winning the office.”

”That would be the least of his…" Dr. Young trailed off remembering something. "Oh god, I almost forgot. They said they were moving through the faclity, hunting down other doctors!"

”Not a problem. All medical staffs are safe." Batgirl reassured Joker's psychiatrist. You should be safer if you remain here.”

-

**Sanatorium**.

Dr Cassidy was checking on her colleague when Batgirl returned from X-Ray.”Did you find them? Are they alright?”

Batgirl nodded.”Yes, they’re safe now." 

”Batgirl, You should hear this.” Max spoke behind her as she turned around and faced both him and Dr. Young.

”I need to get back to the Mansion. All my research notes are there. We can’t get the Joker get his hands on them!" Dr. Young requested.

Batgirl immediately declined that request out of concern for her life. ”It’s too risky, Doctor. The whole Island is a war zone. You would get yourself killed right on the spot!"

Dr. Young did not like the answer. ”It’s my life’s work! You don’t really have the authority to..."

”I’ll get Cash to escort her there, Batgirl." Max suggested, trying to compromise while referring to the head of security. "He’s been wanting to get some payback on some of Joker’s guys since his hostile takeover began.”

”Max…” Batgirl sighed then was on high alert when she heard a beeping sound. ”Who called the elevator!”

”It wasn’t us! It came from the lower floor.” Dr.Cassidy told her worriedly.

Realizing that she didn't have much of a choice, Batgirl gave out commands. ”Max! Get Cash to escort Dr. Young for her notes and find somewhere safe. Everyone else, head to the Observation! Barrciade yourselves in!"

**Barbara Gordon: I don't know why I decided to face straight whatever's behind the elevator doors instead of heading back to the shadows. But I do know that I didn't want make any more mistakes from earlier.**

Elevator doors opened and soon enough out stepped a surprising criminal. One that wore a black mask along with some hired help. ”Hello, Batgirl. It’s been a while."

If Batgirl was surprised to see former head of the Sionis Industry, she didn't show it. ”Sionis."

**Barbara Gordon: Roman Sionis aka Black Mask. A remnant of an era gone past. Along with the Falcones and the Maronis, He used to be feared by Gotham’s criminal underworld during a time where Gotham was corrupt to the bone and Organized crime was at its most powerful. Well, that was case until Joker showed up and destroyed his criminal empire on the night of the Blackgate Riots. He was never the same afterwards.**

”You're not supposed to be here, Sionis! Why even join up with the Joker after everything he did to you?" Batgirl asked, reminding the former billionaire of his hatred for the clown prince. 

Black Mask chuckled menacingly. ”Oh I still hate his guts but I hate you masked freaks even more. If it wasn’t for you, Joker would’ve never had the balls to try to go after me.”

Batgirl shook her head in disbelief. ”You brought it on yourself, Sionis, or rather your hubris was the cause of your downfall.”

Scowling at her remark, He turned to his men. ”Get her, boys!"

The men wasted no time charging at her, but she was quick to react as she ducked under the punches and leaped up in air while kicking two men and punched the third. Spotting a red laser beam on her chest, She spun herself around avoiding the shot from the gun equipped with laser that Roman had gained and threw a well aimed batarang, taking the gun off his hand perfectly. Black Mask muttered a few curse words under his breath as Batgirl quickly disposed of his men before turning her attention to Roman. 

"You're gonna regret that!" Black Mask spat as He swung his fists at Batgirl who dodged them with ease.

Not wanting to deal with Black Mask any longer than necessary, She hit the weak spots with precise blows to the temple, chin, throat and the solar plexus leaving him dazed and out of breath before, grabbing his arm, throwing him over her hip and broke it in. She stomped his head in for the finishing touch. Black Mask was out for the count.   
Batgirl sighed looking down at the former billionaire crime lord. "You really should've declined his invitation, Sionis."

-

**Surgery Room.**  
After the once prideful crime boss got his ass handed to him by a girl, Black Mask came to seeing that he was strapped to a chair in the surgery room where Batgirl was heading towards the exit leaving him to his faith.

"You're gonna pay for this, you bitch! You hear me!! YOu're dead! **Dead**!!" 

-

**Medical Foyer**

Harley Quinn was reading a magazine leaning on a chair humming a nameless song while Gordon was trying to break free from the ropes. when she heard a creaking sound from above. She looked up and before she could react, Batgirl was coming down on her through the glass and struck the former Arkham Psychiatrist in the face with a hard punch.

"You took longer than I thought." Gordon commented.

"I was busy. Joker had invited several guests for his 'party.'" Batgirl replied as she used a Batarang to cut the ropes off her father's wrists. ”Did Harley hurt you?"

”Not more than usual." Gordon said, rubbing his wrists standing up from his seat. "Batgirl listen, we’re not alone. He’s got something in there. I don’t know what it is.”

_”What a bladdermouth! Ruining the surprise!”_ Joker pouted in disappointment on screen.

”Shut it Joker!” Batgirl hissed before leaving the foyer with her father leading her to another room below them.

_”Am I getting to you? am I?" Good! You’re gonna love this next bit.”_

Batgirl and Gordon examined the room that he led her to. The commissioner looked at a computer while Batgirl saw someone strapped to hoses from various machines. ”It wants Dr. Young’s login.”

Batgirl could care less about that as she recognized the person. ”Ignore that! Get behind me, now!” She ordered.

Puzzled, Gordon went behind his daughter unknowingly as they laid their eyes on the man who broke the bat, well a shell of one. ”Oh my god. Bane.”

”I thought he broke out of Blackgate!” Gordon expressed his surprise. She thought so too but apparently, the Joker was really intent on bringing everyone to his 'party'.

Bane, a withered husk of a man, brought on by years of abuse of Venom, was pleading for help. ”Cut. Me. Down.”

”Who did this to you?” Batgirl asked him in slight shock and horror.

”Dr. Young. The Bruja." Bane snarled. "She drained the Venom from my blood. Must… Stop her.”

_”Sorry, Has Bane."_ Joker apologized, while looking not so apologetic while appearing on the computer screen. _"But the good doctor won’t be around for much longer. How’d ya like my puppet? What say we cut him down?!”_

The machines started to whirl as some kind of green liquid was pumping into Bane through his mask and the storage tank on his back, starting a venom like transformation. Bane grunted as his eyes turned florescent green while his hollowed cheek body began to grow exponentially from whatever. 

”Gordon! Run!” Batgirl shouted to her father to get the hell out dodge while stepping back in caution. Gordon complied as he didn't want to stay around. Bane restored to his full size, ripped off the hoses and let out a roar charging towards Batgirl. Bane swung his large fist towards the redheaded heroine but she avoided the contact as his large fist struck the floor. Batgirl hit Bane in the face with an uppercut, no effect. It made him angrier as Bane grabbed her by the waist, hoisting her up above his head with ease and tossed her through wall into the boiler room with full force.

_"Play nice, ladies."_ Joker chided teasingly.

-

**Boiler Room.**

**Barbara Gordon: It wasn't the first time I fought Bane but this time was different. Bane was a lot more stronger than I'd originally presumed. The hole in the wall was an evidence of that. It must've been whatever chemical cocktail Joker had pumped him up with, like the dead inmate monster from earlier only far more successful. I can't beat him in a straight up fight when he's like this but like any drug addict I have encountered, all I have to do is to cut off the supply.  
**

Batgirl slowly got back up while shaking off the cobwebs and studied Bane for any potential weakness. She found one by three large tubes that were connected to his mask from the storage tank.

Bane roared as he charged at Batgirl once more only this time, she was ready for him as she threw a batarang, striking him in the head while rolling out of the way. Bane hit a wall, head first, leaving him momentarily dazed. The boiler room shook from impact. Batgirl took advantage of that and hopped on his back and removed a tube from his storage tank. Bane cried out in rage before slamming his large fist down to the floor grates, causing a mini quake. 

"I shall fold you like paper!" Bane growled as he went on to remove a huge chunk of one of the foundations with his bare hands and threw it across the room towards Batgirl who narrowly dodged it. But Bane capitalized on it and clasped his one of large hands by the suit and slammed her, back first against the wall repeatedly before tossing her away like a bad habit. 

Grunting, Batgirl spit out some blood, rubbing her ribs while Bane relished in inflicting pain on the heroine. Bane charged towards her once more but Batgirl pulled out a batarang from her utility belt and evaded Bane at the same time. The hitting She hopped on his back again, cutting another tube from his mask with the Batarang. 

"No!" Bane cried out as he felt his superhuman strength diminish quickly with each tube from the storage tank cut off. Realizing that there was only one left remaining, Bane took drastic measures as he went to rip chunks of foundations and threw it towards Batgirl who avoided . frustrations building over that she dodged them all, Bane dashed towards Batgirl who'd anticipated it by jumping to the side allowing the man who broke the bat hit the wall with his head once, she used her batarang to cut the last tube off his mask.   
  
"No!" Bane moaned as he collapsed to the floor grate as the roof began to collapse due to the weakened foundations that crumbled. He was buried underneath bricks, pipes while Batgirl made her escape by using her grapple to top side. 

-

**Arkham West.**

She removed the lid to the side while climbing out of the sewers. Batgirl took a moment to feel her sore ribs.

”You ok, Batgirl?” Gordon asked as he joined her.

”I’m fine. Where’s Quinn?” Batgirl inquired.

Gordon shrugged. ”Gone. Must’ve fled while Bane was throwing you around.”

Batgirl sighed, looking up to sky. Great. ”You need to head back to the main land. It's too dangerous for you to remain here.”

Gordon shook his head no. No way in hell he would leave her behind. ”I’m not a rookie. I can handle myself."

No sooner than he said it, the wall burst, startling both Batgirl and her father as Bane who somehow clawed his way out, burst out of the wall and was angrier than ever before letting out a war cry. Swatting the commissioner like a small child, Bane grabbed Batgirl by the waist, holding her like a ragdoll. Batgirl tried to get out of his large grasp but it was in vein.

”I will break you, Batgirl! Then the Bruja!” Bane roared into her face but then something unexpected happened. The Impala appeared behind him and the hood collided with Bane freeing Batgirl from his grasp. The Driver pulled the breaks sending the Luchador looking super-criminal into the open river.

The driver stepped out of the driver's seat causing the Librarian to look at him in surprise. ”That's really no way to treat a lady!” 

Her savior had an all black outfit which consisted of a long leather coat, black trousers, gloves, Kevlar vest and black boots. His choice of weapons were a katana strapped to his back and a 45. Magnum on a thigh holster. Her Savior had a name, Jericho Brown. The illegitimate son of Ra's al Ghul.

Jericho glanced at his girlfriend with a confident grin. ”Batgirl! We gotta stop meeting like this!”

**Barbara Gordon: It's funny really. whenever I see Jericho, My mind goes blank. I have two Phd's in computer science and forensic criminology along with a doctorate in Library science but it comes to him, all logic goes out of the window. He's my forbidden apple. The forbidden romance between The vigilante on the good side of the Law and the reformed Assassin. Vanity Fair** **certainly don't have a column on how to handle a relationship like this.**

-

**Docks**.

Batgirl and Gordon walked up on the pier to a boat where a guard was waiting for them. Jericho waited by medical building. 

”I don’t like leaving you here.” Gordon said.

Batgirl understood her father's worries but the city needed him more especially now. ”The radio claims that he planted bombs all over Gotham. The city will go into mass panic. You’re needed there.” 

Seeing the logic behind her argument, Gordon reluctantly stepped on the boat whose final destination was the Gotham Bay. 

”Bane called Dr Young Bruja. What does it mean?” Gordon wondered as the boat reved up the motor and took off.

Batgirl turned around and left the pier. ”It’s Spanish for witch.” She answered.

**Barbara Gordon: It's gonna be a very long night.**

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, kudos and bookmark this story for more updates.


	4. Riddle.

After getting her father off the island and to safety, Batgirl contacted her information broker as Jericho joined her. She wanted to know more about the Gotham U graduate and how she was connected to Joker. Based on her boiler room brawl with Bane, it wasn't good. "Prophet, hack into the city's computers and pull up every file on Dr. Young. I'll go through everything you had found once I'm at the Bathouse."

 _"A Bathouse on the Island?!"_ Prophet screeched in surprise.

"I built it during my rehabilitation from Joker's attack, thought it best to plan ahead in situations like this." Batgirl informed him.

 _"You're starting to become more like Bruce, ya know that, Boss lady?"_ Prophet pointed it out.

Batgirl smiled. Well, nothing speaks volumes then try to emulate from your heroes. "I learned from the best."

 _"Right."_ Prophet replied. _"So do you think Dr Young has been experimenting with whatever compound that turns Bane into that freakazoid you fought earlier?"_

Batgirl nodded. "Yes and it has me worried. Bane was a lot more powerful than normal. Joker wants it and that can only spell trouble. I'm heading to Elizabeth's Fall at Arkham East. I'll contact you once I'm at the Bathouse."

She ended the transmission and turned her attention to the Son of the Demon's head. "What brings you here?"

Jericho shrugged. "Was in the Cauldron when I heard about Joker's escape. Prophet filled in the blanks. Thought I'd lend a hand for my beloved." Jericho leaned in for a kiss but Batgirl backed away leaving him confused.

"Not Now. We got a job to do." Batgirl cautioned. Jericho respected her wishes with a nod as they went to Arkham East. Business now, pleasure later.

**Barbara Gordon: Our love affair was gonna have to wait.**

-

**Arkham East.**

**Barbara Gordon: The Asylum was originally a family home owned by Jeremiah Arkham who turned it into a psychiatric home for the mentally iII after the death of his mother Elizabeth Arkham who suffered from dementia at the beginning of the 20th Century. Funny. If only Jeremiah were still around to see some of the most horrid patients at the place he once lived at, he would've died from a heart attack. With all due respect of course.**

_"What's the deal with Elizabeth's Fall? It's the place where Jeremiah Arkham's mother committed suicide by nose diving into Gotham river after having suffered from mental health issues her whole life."_ Prophet said, referring to the asylum's origin story as Batgirl and Jericho made it to Elizabeth's Fall which was a river fall outside the Arkham Mansion.

Batgirl nodded, fully aware of the tragic backstory behind the Asylum. "I know. After I put the cape back on once I got medically cleared to return to field, I rescued a schizophrenic patient from suffering the same fate. There I discovered an unknown cave off shore by accident. I talked Bruce into setting it a second base there for emergency situations. It's a home away from home."

She took a deep breath before leaping off the ledge, free falling for several seconds before using her cape to land on the surface. Jericho joined up with her not soon after having used boosters in his boots to control his landing. She pressed a button on her right gauntlet and a sub in shape of a bat appeared from water.

"Damn. Is that yours?" Jericho marveled at the sleek design.

”I’m borrowing it." Batgirl replied as she hopped into the driver's seat, Jericho followed suit in the passenger's seat. She took off heading to the bat house not far from Arkham Island.

-

**Bathouse.**

Jumping out of the batboat, Batgirl and Jericho arrived at the Bathouse waiting for the security to recognize her at the front door.

_"Identity Confirmed. Disabling countermeasures. Security deactivated."_

She opened the door entering the Bathouse which was a miniaturized Batcave underneath Wayne Manor. Jericho whistled looking around the place. It's everything he imagined it to be. "Wow."

"On!" Batgirl commanded and the lights turned on in the Bathouse. She walked up to the computer system, taking her seat while removing the cowl off her face as she accessed the Batcomputer, contacting Prophet for the information he found on Dr. Young.

 _"Dr. Young was the head of a project that started several months ago. It was huge. A lot of external fundings. Here are the last notes she filed."_ Prophet told her as the files appeared on the bat screen. 

Batgirl took a closer look at the files on screen and got a clear of hang of it, mostly. In college, she took a course in medical science which came in handy for her detective work. ”Hmm. Looks like Dr. Young was experimenting on the Arkham patients. She created a new chemical compound called Titan that barley resembles the original Venom formula. There are several changes that amplify the strength of the drug. Even a small dose of Titan could trigger a Venom like transformation in the host. it would eliminate the need for a storage tank Bane requires.”

Her eyes widened in shock as she caught something disturbing. ”What is it, beloved?” Jericho asked her, noting the worried look on her face.

”The notes aren’t completed. The formula is missing." Batgirl said. "If the Joker gets his hands on it, He'll be able to create an army of a thousand Banes."

 _”Jesus christ.”_ Prophet muttered. _"He’s insane. Oh wait, he is. You got to stop him."_

"We will but there’s another problem." Batgirl replied. "Officer Cash was escorting Dr. Young to her office for her notes at Arkham Mansion. We're going after her."

 _"Good."_ Prophet said. _"By the way, I've found something very interesting in her bank records. She received multiple payments starting from last April until two months ago. Then Nothing. The payments came from a company owned by Mr. Jack White."_

"Another of Joker's aliases." Batgirl mused. "So, Joker pays Dr Young to create his army and then suddenly stops? Doesn't make any sense."

 _"If you'd let me finish, I'll tell you why, boss lady."_ Prophet said. _"The payments didn't just stop all together. They were declined. She put a block on her account. She tried to stop the Joker's payments."_

"Dr. Young had a change of heart." Batgirl deduced. "Joker doesn't like it when one of his partners back out."

_"So he decided to head back to Arkham, find the formula and create an army for himself."_

”Exactly." Batgirl said. "We’re heading back to the Island right now. Hopefully Dr. Young got to her office before Joker did. Batgirl out."

Batgirl put the cowl back on as she went to the Batboat. "You ok, Barb?"

Batgirl sighed stopping her walk. "Not really." She admitted, turning to face Jericho who walked up to her. "It was hard for me to be around Dad before Joker broke out earlier tonight. I hate lying to him. He'd kill me if he knew I was Batgirl." She shook her head in despondency. "He still blames himself for what Joker did to me." Even though she's fully healed physically, the Joker's attack in her apartment had left some mental scars. 

Knowing that no words would bring any comfort, Jericho kissed the top of her head for assurance as they jumped back into the Batboat. 

-

**Gotham**

**Chinatown.**

Without warning, Prophet’s computer screen went static leaving the broker bewildered and confused of what’s happening to his system.

"What the?”

His unspoken question was about to be get answered in a form of a large green question mark that appeared.

Prophet groaned hanging his head in recognition. "Oh no. Not him. Anybody but him."

 _"Yes, my slobbly hunched back friend. It is I, Edward Nigma, The Riddler, the resident Genius of Gotham and more importantly your intellectual superior.”_ Riddler announced his entry in grand fashion.

**Barbara Gordon: Eddie Naston aka Edward Nygma, the Riddler. What is there to say about him besides the fact that he’s an egomaniac obsessed with proving his intellect to everyone he deems inferior, like the old greek gods from ancient times? Shawn was about to get his hands full with this one.**

Prophet scoffed in disbelief as he started several programs in attempt to locate his ip adress and the signal. All he needed to do was to keep track on the encyrpted signal long enough to find the former head of GCPD Cyber crimes unit and his hideout. "Please. You're just a egoistical cry baby with daddy issues. No body cares about second fiddles."

 _"How dare you!_ ” Riddler exclaimed insulted by his remark. _"My superior intellect allowed me to override your security system and take over your computer."_

"I can easily reboot it and erase you from the system cleanly, dumbass." Prophet stated. He learned from the best. If there's anyone better than him, It's Barbara Gordon.

 _"Oh I don't doubt that.”_ Riddler said. _"Which is why I got a challenge for you. The rules are simple: I give you five riddles and only five. If you answer them correctly, you'll gain your system. If not, this happens.”_ Five hostages that were tied up and gagged appeared on the second screen. Two were a male and female GCPD detectives whom were reported missing a week ago. The third hostage was a Bald middle aged man who Prophet recongized as a member of Mayor Garcia’s staff. The last two were college students with Gotham U shirts. Two thugs that wore black mask with green question marks drew out their guns and aimed at the hostages that flinched. One of thugs shot the wall, missing the target on purpose to send a message to Prophet.

"Oh come on, That’s not fair!” Prophet whined.

_”Nothing is fair, my friend. It’s a fact of life. So, are you ready to begin?"_

Prophet muttered a few curse words under breath before begrudgingly agreeing to those terms. "Yes."

_"Riddle me this: I build up castles. I tear down mountains. I make some men blind, I help others to see. What am I?”_

"Sand.” Prophet answered the first riddle.

Riddler clapped his hands as if he was congratulating a child for getting a C. _"Bravo. I would've expected nothing less from you Prophet. But that was one of the easy ones."_

Riddler handed him another Riddle. " _Riddle me This: I never was, am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. And yet I am the confidence of all, To live and breath on this terrestrial ball. What am I?"_

Shawn thought briefly about the latest riddle. It's not Yesterday, it's in the past. Or the present which leaves... "Tomorrow."

 _"Good. Another live spared."_ Riddler congratulated, a slight nervous tone detected in his voice. 

"When young, I am sweet in the sun. When middle-aged, I make you gay. When old, I am valued more than ever."

Prophet frowned at the riddle. That was a bit homophobic at best. but he kept his tongue for their sake. Let's see. He's not talking about the average age of humans. Nah it's bit too sophisticated. It must be about beverage. It's not beer which means...

A lightbulb turned in his head as if he had an eureka moment. "Wine." He answered.

 _”What?"_ Riddler hissed _. "You must look up on the internet! You must be."_

Riddler cleared his throat, trying to remain in control of of the situation _. "Each morning I appear to lie at your feet, All day I will follow no matter how fast you run, Yet I nearly perish in the midday sun. What am I?"_

That one was too easy. "Shadow."

"No." Riddler growled as he left his control of emotions slipping away nearing another humiliating defeat. _"Only 2 left. They come out at night without being called, and are lost in the day without being stolen. What are they?”_

While Riddler was too busy congratulating Prophet about the second riddle solved, He got a fix on the signal and the address to boot. The secret hideout that Riddler’s staying along with the hostages was located in the Old Gotham district. He sent an sos call to the GCPD along with the address to alert about the Riddler while answering the riddle as Prophet, looking up to sky. Riddler doesn't do much of a good job covering his tracks.

"Stars.”

 _”What?! How?!"_ Riddler exclaimed in shock. _"Oh you won’t solve the last one, I can assure you of that! There’s no way!_ _You saw me where I never was and where I could not be. And yet within that very place, my face you often see. What am I?"_

Shawn smirked as he answered the last one with confidence. Game. Set. Match. "Reflection."

Riddler gawked in absolute shock. _"What! you did it?! You must've cheated!There is no way you could beat me. Well you asked for it, Prophet... "_

Whatever the Enigma was gonna do didn’t come to fruition as the GCPD Banged on the door of his hideout having arrived at the scene a few minutes prior. It allowed Prophet to take a breather while leaning back on his chair in relief. _"What? The police! You cheated, Prophet. You couldn't have outsmarted me!"_

There was scuffle as the GCPD swat team broke in and restrained the Riddler and his henchmen whom resisted the arrest greatly. " _No! Get off Me! NO! Tell me! How did you work out where I was? Do you hear me? I, Edward Nigma, will..."_

The futile threat ended as the transmission was cut off abruptly. ”Sleep tight in your cell, Eddie. Don’t drop the soap.” Prophet chuckled in satisfaction as he ate a victory cookie.

**Barbara Gordon: What can be swallowed, but can also swallow you? The Answer: Pride.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, kudos and Bookmark for more updates.


	5. Date Of Death

**10 minutes later.**

**Arkham East**

Max Payne was crouching down on a guard tower as a couple of Joker's mens armed with rifles was searching the area for any guard they might have missed. Soon after getting Cash to escort the good doctor to her office at Arkham Mansion, he took cover.

"Look alive, boys!" One of the inmates said. "The Boss wants us to find every guard that we come across and waste them!"

As the ex NYPD cop dropped his head even further in cover, he unintentionally made a sound by colliding with a desk, alerting the inmates. "Who was that? I thought I heard something."

"Where?"

"Up there!" The inmate who heard the noise nudged his head to the tower, which was not what Max wanted. "Up there!"

"Alright! Alright! Quit your whining!" One of the other inmates shot two of the legs causing the tower to crumble due to the weight being too much for weakened foundations of the tower. And to Max's bad luck it revealed his location to the inmates. "That's one of the guards! Shoot him!"

  
"God Damnit!" Max hissed realizing that he was left with no choice. He pulled out his gun from his hip holster and shot every inmate in the shoulders, non lethal. There were very specific rules when he joined Arkham and the main rule was do not kill the patients under any circumstances. As soon as he'd done that, he landed on the muddy soil, knocking the wind out of him. ****

He coughed trying to regain his breath. He's getting too old for this but he still got it. He got back up on his feet as Batgirl and Jericho who'd returned to Arkham Island via the batboat.

"You alright, Max?" Batgirl asked.

Max Payne looked at her as if it was a stupid question to ask. "Where were you? I needed help five minutes ago." 

"It looked like you had everything under control." Jericho motioned to the injured inmates with bullet wounds in their shoulders.

"Well, it doesn't feel that way." Max spat then turned to Batgirl. "Who's this guy?"

"Help." Batgirl replied to his question. "We're heading to Arkham Mansion. Dr. Young is in Trouble."

-

**Arkham East**

**Arkham Mansion.**

**West Wing Corridor.**

**Barbara Gordon: When we got back to Arkham Island, the Asylum was crawling with Joker's henchmen. he had completely taken over the place. We had to sneak in through the back door sort to speak.**

When they arrived at the Mansion, they had to take care of some trouble that wasn't an obstacle. Batgirl had filled him on why the Arkham Psychiatrist was in trouble on their way in. Max was leading both Batgirl and Jericho to the Arkham records room.

"So Joker was manipulating Dr. Young into creating a drug that would turn his men into Frankenstein monsters in a plot to destroy Gotham?" Max summarized what he was just told and to say that it was well above his pay grade, would be total vindication. 

"Yes. I had the displeasure to experience its end product first hand in the boiler room at the medical facility." Batgirl admitted remembering her fight with the Titan enhanced Bane from earlier.

"Damn."

Jericho who had been quiet for some time was asked the ex cop of the location of Dr Young's office. "Where did you say her office was again?"

"In the north section. You have to go through the Records Room and walk up the railway to the door on the right. At least that's what the doctor had told me." Max Payne sighed walking up to the door that lead. "Just another day in the office, huh?"

That's an understatement if she ever heard one. Batgirl sighed. "I should've known that Joker was up to something devious based on how easily he surrendered at the Mayor's office."

"Well, it was a hardly a text book hostage situation from what I've heard on the radio." Max retorted. He readied himself at the door. "Ready?"  
  


-

**Arkham Records Room.**

Officer Aaron Cash, the head of Security was tied to a chair while Joker's men were beating him up for information on where Dr. YOung was hiding the Titan Formula in the Records room filled with lists of previous patients and workers of Arkham for the past 20 minutes but to their frustrations, Cash wouldn't budge in. He was one tough custom. The hook he had on his left wrist to replace the hand that he lost to Killer Croc during a schuffle years ago was an prime example of that.

"You can beat me up all night. I ain't telling where the doc is, so spare yourselves the trouble." Cash spat, spitting out some blood onto the carpet.   
The men were agitated by the Senior Guard's resilience. "John, get me the chainsaw."

Before John could do that, he was shot in the leg by Max Payne who walked up to him, knocking the Joker henchmen in the face out with the butt of his handgun while his companion was hit in the head by batarang from Batgirl. She and Jericho were busy taking care of Joker's remaining henchmen on the railway that guarded the room.

"Max! About damn time ya ass showed up!" Cash exclaimed at seeing the former DEA agent as Max went to free him from the ropes that tied him to the chair.

Max shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Cash. Was preoccupied by avoiding Joker's goons." Cash chuckled shaking his head in bemusement.

Batgirl who had just taken care of the last Henchmen, jumped off the railing and joined up with the two guards. "Where did Dr. Young go, Cash?" Batgirl asked the senior official.  
  
"I told her to run! These guys came lookin' for her. I told her to go to her office and hide!" Cash told her what occurred.

"Does she keep her records there?" 

Cash shrugged. "I guess. She was pretty adamant of getting in there."

"How long was this! I need to know." Batgirl demanded the timeline.

"15 minutes or so. Why are her notes so important?" Cash inquired.

"Joker wants them. That makes them important." Batgirl said simply. She turned towards Max. "Stay here and keep guard. I'll find her."

-

**Dr. Peneople Young's Office.**

The first thing Batgirl noticed as she entered Dr. Young's office via air duct was an open safe. Someone had already got to the notes already. She looked around the office, examining it. No sign of forced entry. Whoever retrieved the notes knew combination code. She logged into the computer on Young's desk to access the security camera and replayed 15 minutes of recorded tape.

She sighed in relief when she saw Dr. Young opening the safe and retrieved her note from the security tapes. She beat the Joker to punch, for now at least. Batgirl needs to know where she put them.

 _"Batgirl? I got Robin on line 1."_ Prophet said. _"Says it's about the bomb threat on the main land. Should I patch him though?"_

"Sure." Batgirl complied to his request. It better be some good news for once.

 _"Hey Barb. It's good to hear your voice."_ Robin said. _"How are you holding up?"_

Batgirl smiled at the concerned tone in Tim's voice. Even though they couldn't be together romantically due to the age difference, they were still good friends. "I've been through worse, so I'm managing it." Batgirl admitted. "What's the situation back there?"

Robin sighed as he relayed what had happened after Joker's threat was aired public. _"Not good, the GCPD searched high and low for the bombs after the Joker's public threat. A squad car found one in Downtown. It was full of marzipans and kittens. Barb, the bombs were fake."_

  
Batgirl closed her eyes in dread. Just as she feared. It was just another sick diversion of Joker to keep the police away. The real action was at Arkham. "Damnit. Has my father returned to the main Land yet?" 

_"No, not yet but I wouldn't worry too much about. I'm sure that your dad is safe and sound."_

Batgirl had an unconvinced look on her face. If her father was back on dry land, she would've known about it by now. "I hope so. Keep me posted."

**Barbara Gordon: Somehow that didn't reassure me whatsoever. I had a nagging feeling in the pit on my stomach that Dad was not safe.**

-

**Library**

She used the scanner to scan Dr Young's fingerprints. She had to calibrate it to only show recent prints that would lead her to the notes. She followed the trail of fingerprints left behind that led her to the main Library of the Mansion. If there was any other time, the geek inside her would've marveled on how many books were there on shelves but it wasn't that time now.

She spotted a book that had the freshest finger prints on one of the many book shelves. She opened the book and found the research notes that contained the formula. 

"Prophet, I found Dr. Young's Titan formula." Batgirl reported to her broker.

 _"That's good."_ Prophet replied. _"Does this mean you've stopped the Joker?"_

Not by a long shot. Batgirl used a lighter from her belt and used it to lit the notes. It was turned into ashes in mere seconds. "No. It's never this simple with him."

"Hey Batgirl!" A guard along with a medic stepped out of their hiding spot and walked over to her. "Thank God."

"You might hold on thanking Him until the night is over, Officer." Batgirl said a bit amused. "You alright?"

"Yeah." The Guard replied. "Everything happened so fast. Some patients broke in and began tearing up the place. Like they were looking for something. There were too many of them for me to take on, so the doc and I went to hide. They took Dr. Young. I overheard them talking about meeting up in the Warden's office. And then they left."

So Dr. Young was able to hide her research notes before she was caught. And now she's being held up at the Warden's office. Hopefully she'll be able to get to Young in time. "Ok, head to the Arkham Records Room. Officer Cash and Payne will be waiting for you there."

Jericho joined her beloved as the guard and the medic left the library, heading to the Records. "Did you find the research notes?"

"I did. And i also know where Dr.Young is."

-

**The Warden's Office**

**Barbara Gordon: I had to hope that the Queen Was safe in her castle. Although from my previous experiences, it was just wishful thinking.**

"Help me! Somebody! Please help me!"

Upon hearing the petrified voice of Dr. YOung, Batgirl and Jericho saw from a distance Zsasz who for some unexplictable reason had been released was holding Dr. Young at knifepoint while dragging her to the Warden's office inside the Mansion. They immediately took cover behind the doorway.

"I know you're out there, Batgirl! Listen to me carefully! If you come any closer, I'll paint the room crimson with her blood!" Zsasz threatened. Dr. Young whimpered in terror, sweat beading down her forehead while the tears ran down her cheeks, staining her mascara. 

Not wanting to wait any more, Batgirl threw a well aimed batarang, striking tally branded killer in the head, knocking him out cold. Dr. Young whimpered in her relief as her knees buckled to the floor while sobbing into her hands.

"It's gonna be fine, Doctor." Batgirl said, helping the Joker's unwilling pawn up on her feet while Jericho took Zsasz somewhere safe while hand cuffing him. "I saw Bane."

"I know. I uh, Joker threatened me. I wanted to stop the experiment. I tried to give his money back." Dr. Young confessed.

"Joker doesn't take a no for an answer." Batgirl stated.

The Psychiatrist shook her head, remembering the terrifying death threat she received after she had sent her resignation letter to the Warden just a week earlier. "He wants an army. A horrible force to destroy Gotham but he couldn't do it without the formula. I hid it but..."

"Now he has Venom _and_ your formula." Batgirl concluded. 

"God. He got gallons of that stuff." Peneople said, heading to the safe that was behind a painting immediately as she was using the combination code she memorized to unlock Sharp's safe. "There's a lab. Hidden in the Gardens. It's locked off but the security key codes for the entire island are in the Warden's safe."

"What else is Joker planning?" Batgirl asked. Young scoffed as she opened the safe.

"How should I know? Do you think anything he says make sense? I think he's insane." 

Unfortunately, The young Doctor's life was about to be cut short when a bomb placed inside the safe was trigged the moment the safe was opened. "Oh my god!"

"Barbara!" Jericho shouted as he grabbed Batgirl by the waist tackling her to the ground from the blast radius as the safe exploded, killing Dr. Young in the process.

Once it was cleared, Jericho helped his beloved back on her feet. Batgirl was saddened when she saw the now late Dr. Peneople Young's body that was caught in the blast.

"No." Batgirl breathed, burying herself into Jericho's chest. 

**Barbara Gordon: Here I was again with all hell breaking loose around me, standing over another dead civilian that I tried to protect.**

**-**


	6. Harlequin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're wondering why I let Barbara monologue is because that I wanted to give a insight into her mind as she goes through the night of fighting Joker and others.

**6 Years ago.**

**Old Gotham.**

_"Robin, Put pressure on the Wound!" Batgirl commanded as she was trying to keep a bleeding civilian alive_ _who was shot by some random criminal during a mugging gone bad_ _long enough for the ambulance to arrive while Tim who was the third Robin pressed his hands to stop the blood flowing on the open wound. Unfortunately it was under the rush hour at the Gotham highway so the Ambulance couldn't come fast enough. They caught the criminal who was shocked that he pulled the trigger unintentionally and handcuffed._

_"”Please. I don’t wanna die.” The hostage pleaded losing blood at an alarming rate from the gun shot wound to the stomach._

_Doing the best she could under such dire_ _circumstances, Batgirl tried to reassure him. "And You won't. You're gonna be fine. Just don't close your eyes."_

_Despite her efforts to keep him awake, the civilian took his final breath as he passed away painfully, staring into nothingness. Batgirl hanged her head in defeat while Robin removed his hands slowly from the wound and closed the eyelids gently._

_"Robin to Prophet. We have a GSW at 52 Avenue Street in Old Gotham." Robin reported while Batgirl could only stare in anguish at the body of a young man who died in serious agony._

_-_

**Present**

**Arkham Asylum**

**Arkham** **Mansion**

**Warden's Office**

**Barbara Gordon: Here I was again with all hell breaking loose around me, standing over another dead body that I was supposed to protect. Only Difference now is that there's no ambulance to call for help.**

The unsympathetic high pitched voice of Harley spoke up behind the lovers whom turned around and saw her holding Sharp's cane along with the Warden himself being restrained by her men. "Poor Dr. Young. Still, you know how Mr. J hates a squealer."

Harley turned her attention to the old man. "Talkin' about squealer!" She roughed him up bit as she struck him in the stomach and across the face with the cane that broke upon impact. 

"That old loony actually thinks he runs this place! Talk about crazy!" She huffed grabbing the bruised mayoral nominee by the arm and dragged out of the office. "Well, Girl-Bats, places to go! Get them, boys!"

Batgirl and Jericho worked together, making quick work of the Harley's henchmen. Batgirl let out her pent up anger of falling to save the doctor by using her fist instead of her legs on the inmates. Batgirl was mounting the last man, mangling his face with her bare fists.

"Batgirl. That's enough." Jericho said firmly, grabbing the Damsel Knight by the waist, ending the savage beatdown. "You ok?"

"I'm fine." Batgirl brushed it off as she got out of the grip away from him, leaving Jericho to look at her in concern for her mental state. 

Jericho sighed as he pressed his ear piece to contact Prophet. "Prophet, Dr. Young is dead." Jericho reported of the Doctor's demise while Batgirl took a moment to regain her self control. "Have you figured out a way to get past the security gates? Before she died, she told us about a secret production plant somewhere in the Gardens."

 _"The security protocols from Waynetech is 90 percent hack proof."_ Prophet said not happy that he couldn't get through them. _"The Old Fox did a damn good job. It's a two part biometric sequencer generated by Warden Sharp using a code sequencer."_

Batgirl who had now regained her focus, spoke up. "That was destroyed by Joker in the safe explosion. Harley Quinn has the warden and he's our only chance to get past these gates."

_"Okay. Good luck, Boss Lady. I have a feeling you're gonna need it."_

Batgirl nodded and noticed Jericho staring at her in worry. "What?"

_-  
 **Arkham West.**_

**Penitentiary.**

**The Green Mile.**

**Barbara Gordon: I used the scanner on my cowl to scan a broken piece from the Warden's cane for his DNA. His trail led me to the Penitentiary at Arkham West that was across the medical facility, the home of the patients that have lost their perception of Reality long ago and some of the dangerous super criminals on record.** **I was now in the real madhouse.  
**

Batgirl looked around the cell block of the Penitentiary called the Green Mile, where a green skinned woman wearing nothing but red shirt inside a cell specifically designed to suppress her powers. Poison Ivy. She was in distress, hearing something that greatly troubles her.

"Batgirl! Please You got to help my babies!" Poison pleaded, pushing her hands against the glass against the feminine heroine.

Batgirl knew better than to open the door. "I'm not in the mood for saving your plants, Ivy."

"They're in pain! Crying for help!" 

Batgirl didn't cave in to her pleads. "Stay where you are! Last thing I need right now is you running free."

Batgirl went to another section of the Penitentiary which was the main cell block still on the Warden's trail with Jericho giving the former botanist a bewildered look before following his girlfriend. "Redheads."

**-**

**Security Control Room _  
_**

**Barbara Gordon: It's hard to phantom that I've gone from being a college graduate with a Phd in computer science and doctorate in Library science to fighting Super criminals in an asylum for the criminally insane. But this is where I was, several miles away from a class room that I couldn't go back to, on one man's crusade to clean up a mess that wasn't even mine.**

The trail led up to a office at the middle of the control room where they found the Warden tied up to a chair. His face was slightly bruised as the security gates closed behind them, thanks to the Joker. Batgirl used the sharp knifes on one of her gauntlets to cut the ropes off his wrist.

"He's taken control of the security overrides." Warden Sharp told them. "I have the sequence generator, but without the terminal in my office, it's useless."

"Your terminal has been destroyed. Give me the sequencer." Batgirl demanded.

"What? Oh. Of course." Warden was compliant in handing the security codes from his suit. Batgirl used her remote hacking device to scan in the codes.

"Uh, Batgirl." Batgirl turned to see Jericho pointing to a security tape from the Green Mile on screen where Harley was being hesitant of letting Poison Ivy because she wasn't on the party list for her 'puddin' but seeing the heartfelt plea from the redheaded villainess and the fact that they're somewhat close friends, she couldn't bring herself to say no. So she used the key card to open Ivy's cell.

"Damnit." Batgirl muttered. 

"We'll get Ivy, Beloved." Jericho reassured her. "I think I know how to track down Harley."

Batgirl stared at him as if he'd suggested that they should take off the masks to public. "How?" 

Jericho had a proud smirk as he pressed his fingers into his right ear. "Prophet. Can you check on the security cameras to find out where Harley is right now?"

 _"Now that is something that I_ can _do."_

**-**

**Extreme Incarceration.**

By using the cameras that to follow the former Arkham psychiatrist's every move, Prophet told the vigilantes that she's entered the Extreme Incarceration which was one of the most secured parts on Arkham Island. They left the Security room and went straight to the other side of the Penitentiary. 

"Die, you big, ugly Bat!"

The gates that led to the Control room in front of them opened to a charging Harley Quinn who was doing acrobatic flips before attempting a fly kick but Batgirl was simply not impressed as she countered the kick and slammed her into the stair case. Harley's head bounced off the railing, making her see stars briefly. 

"Well that was anticlimactic." Jericho commented, picking a slightly Harley up by the arm. 

"Hey! Hands off the merchandise!" She exclaimed as Jericho removed the paper from her bra. "That's my party list!"

"Not anymore." Jericho noted handing the list to his beloved who took it, examining the names of the inmates that were imprisoned here. Waylon Jones, Jervis Tetch to name a few.

Harley tried to hit Batgirl once more with a cheap shot but Batgirl easily sidestepped the attack, causing Harley to trip over her feet down to the floor. She tucked the paper into her belt and used her remote hacking device to scan in Joker's squeeze's fingerprints. 

Batgirl picked up Harley and tossed her into a cell nearby. "Back to the slammer with you."

"You won't find Mr. J, he's in the secret lab in the gardens and... Oh, crap!" Harley realized in mid sentence that she gave out the location of where her 'puddin' was.

"I know." Batgirl replied. 

"Damn!" Harley hissed. "Well, he'll get me out! You'll see. Yeah. You'll see..."

**Barbara Gordon: If there was one prime example of a woman stuck in a toxic relationship, I'm looking at it.**

-

**Arkham East.**

Once Harley Quinn was secured, All that was left was to do was to find Joker's secret production lab and destroy it. Harley had been anywhere on Arkham Island so Batgirl had to calibrate the cowl to find prints that had traces of chlorophyll and fortunately, it would lead to where she was at the most frequent which was the Gardens.

Batgirl and Jericho exited penitentiary and went straight to Arkham East where the Gardens was. "Remember the first time we met?" Jericho recalled on their way the Gardens. 

Batgirl let out a smile, remembering their meeting which sparked the star crossed relationship. How could she forget?

-

**4 Years ago  
**

**Gotham**

**The Bowery.**

_It was the holiday season in Gotham where most of its citizens were with their family or friends to celebrate Christmas, the alleged birth of Jesus of Nazareth but for the criminals, Christmas had come early._

_Ricky Leblanc aka Loose Lips, a repeated felon was demonstrating the latest military grade fire arms to his buyers at an old shoe factory in the Bowery when Batgirl burst through the window and_

_"Sorry to interrupt Loose Lips, but I'm afraid the auction has been cancelled for today."_

_Ricky frowned at the heroine's rudely entrance. "Get her!"  
_

_His men drew out their weapons to shoot her but Batgirl was quick to react as she threw a batarang like a boomerang, knocking the guns off their hands before using the Batclaw to pull one of the men to her, she clotheslined him to the ground, almost taking his head off before stomping her foot onto his face, knocking him out. She ducked her head under a swinging punch from another, sweeping his feet off before delivering roundhouse kick to the side of head._

_Ricky was not pleased to see how it was going, Batgirl making the he made a strategic move by leaving his men to their fates by heading to the back door but was met with a gloved fist to the face. He collapsed to the floor out cold._

_After knocking the last man out, Batgirl was about to give chase when she saw Loose Lip's unconscious body and a man wearing a trench coat with protective armor. "You're welcome."_

_**Barbara Gordon: I met Jericho a Year after the attack. I had just been medically cleared to return to the field. I fell hard for him even though I didn't know at the time.** _

_Batgirl was about to tell the stranger that she had it handled when she caught his green eyes, losing her train of thought as she stared into her . It was so mesmerizing._

**_Barbara Gordon: It was the eyes. Those damned crystal green eyes._ **

**-**

**Arkham Asylum**

**Botanical Gardens.**

Joker was putting the Titan boxes in the secret elevator when he heard the secret door. Smirking, he turned around and saw Batgirl entering the Titan Production Facility along with Jericho.

"Well, look who discovered my secret Lab." Joker said. "Since you made it this far, Lemme show you what I've cooked up. Boys!!"

Two Titan enhanced henchmen came through the wall and charged towards the duo whom avoided the contact in unison. Joker made his escape through the secret elevator knowing that his men would be enough to keep them busy.

"Two against two. Pretty bad odds." Jericho mused, taking a fighting stance.

Batgirl smirked having been through this already. "For them."

\- 

**10 Minutes Later.**

So 10 minutes, two beaten Titan enhanced men and 6 destroyed Titan canisters later, Batgirl and Jericho was back on the hunt for the Clown Prince. It was easy really. All they had to do was turn them on each other so that they can destroy the lab and take themselves out in one clean sweep. 

"Prophet, we destroyed the Titan production lab. But Joker escaped with enough to give us a real headache." Batgirl reported to her information broker about the destruction of the Facility.

 _"Well, you win some, you lose some. It's the cost of war."_ Prophet quipped.

Batgirl couldn't agree more on that statement. "They've been using a Venom plant hybrid to create the Titan strain." She told him. "The plants are the key. And there is one person on the entire island that can help us."

 _"Why would Poison Ivy even consider helping you?"_ Prophet asked the hypothetical question.

"If her plants are in danger, she'll listen." She said. "The Batcomputer has a record of her pheromone signature. I'll use it to track her down."

-

**The Main Garden.**

The person in question was communicating with her plants in the main garden after being set freed from her cell.

"It's all right my darlings. I'm here now. My poor darlings." Poison Ivy purred to a moving vine. Batgirl stepped through the double doors and entered the main garden. "Yes, I know she's found us. But I won't let her hurt you. I'll kill her first."

"Ivy. I know about Dr. Young's mutation of your plants to produce Venom." Batgirl said.

"Yes. And I heard it through the grapevine the evil woman paid the price." Poison Ivy let out a sinster chuckle, obviously relishing of the news about Young's premature death.

"I need your help in creating an antidote."

Poison Ivy scoffed, not wanting to do it out of spite. "Why should I? Let Joker have his fun. I'll enjoy watching you squirm."

Her patience almost at the breaking point due to stress of the night it has brought it on her, Batgirl stomped on an innocent vine with her boot crushing it. Poison moaned in pain clutching her stomach in great deal of distress. "Today is really not a good day to piss me off, Pamela." She said calmly.

"There's a plant, growing deep in Arkham Island. Only it can counter the effects of this Titan strain." Poison Ivy revealed.

"Where?" Batgirl demanded.

"In Killer Croc's lair. You didn't think it would be easy, did you?"

She didn't expect it to. "Whatever else happens tonight, just stay away from the Joker and I won't have to deal with you." Batgirl said turning her back.

"Don't worry. I despise the clown as much as you do. So I'll be staying out of his crosshairs." Poison Ivy reassured as Batgirl exited the main garden.


	7. Tick Tock.

**Botanical Gardens**

**A few minutes ago.**

_"I got a fix on Ivy's location. Wanna come?"_

_Jericho shook his head. This is one conversation he doesn't wanna get involved. Besides, his beloved is more than capable of handling the eco criminal herself. "No thanks. I'll leave you to it. I over heard some of Joker's thugs talking about guards being held at the guard room in Penitentiary. I'm gonna rescue them."_

_Batgirl nodded in understanding. "Right. You scared of her?" she asked a bit teasingly._

_Jericho scoffed. "Scared? Nah, I'll like to call it social distancing from a femme fatale, thank you. I'm one woman kind of guy."_  
  
_Batgirl shook her head in amusement. "That's nice to hear."_

**-**

**Arkham East.**

Batgirl hoped that Poison Ivy would heave her polite warning about not getting involved as she left the Gardens. She had enough fill of craziness for one night. "Prophet, can you patch me into the Guard Radio? I need to talk to a guard named Cash."

 _"Sure."_ Seconds later Prophet put her through the guard radio feed.

"Officer Cash. It's Batgirl."

 _"Batgirl! How'd ya get into this frequency?"_ Aaron Cash exclaimed in surprise at her voice _._

Batgirl smiled. He's learned well in computer hacking, her own padwan. "Not Important. Where do I find Killer Croc?"

_"What?! Girl, you must be outta your damn mind if you even attempt to get near that monster!"_

She knew that but unfortunately she had to know where he was so she can collect the spores to make the cure for the Titan Strain. "Cash. It's important. Please."

She heard an hesitant sigh on the other side _. "Croc got his own special cell. It's right below transfer room back in the Intensive Treatment."_ Cash told her eventually of where Croc's cell was. " _The elevator goes down to an old sewer. We drop meat every day or so. It's locked off. More security than the Joker. You won't getting there without the Warden's permission. He has the codes."_

That was all she needed to hear. "Thanks, Cash. I own ya one." 

_"No problem. A word of advice though: If you hear him breathin': Run."_

She'll keep that in mind. With a determined look on her face, she made a run back to Arkham North.

-

**Arkham West.**

**Penitentiary.**

**Guard Room.**

**Barbara Gordon: I'd hoped that Jericho was successful in his rescue attempt of the guards at the penitentiary. But knowing Harley, She'd left the guards in some kind of death trap as a sick joke.**

This was one tricky situation the guards had found themselves in as Jericho entered the guard room at Penitentiary. They were hanging above the pool waters that had been electrified thanks to Harley Quinn. Needless to say, they were more pissed than frightened.

Jericho took out a device and placed it on a security panel that was booby trapped, overriding the protocols. It shut off one electrified pool water. He went on to shut down the second one and soon enough both water pool waters were now electricity free. He used a knife from his belt to cut the ropes off their wrists.

"Jesus Christ, I thought we were gonna die in here!" Louie Green, a senior guard sighed in relief that his life was still intact. 

"You're safe now." Jericho assured.

"Did you find that crazy witch?" Louie sneered in disgust, mentioned the ex employee of Blackgate psychiatric team. "I saw her heading down to Extreme Incarnation as she left."

"Yep. She's locked up safe and sound." Jericho said. It was like music to the senior guard's ears. "Right now, Batgirl is gonna stop her boyfriend.

"Good. Hope that you really gave what she deserved." Louie said. 

-

**Arkham North**

**Intensive Treatment Building.**

**Killer Croc's Lair.**

**Barbara Gordon: It's been said the Sewer is the conscience of a City. A quote that has never been more fitting in Gotham. I'd be lying if I didn't think of turning back and finding other alternatives but there aren't unfortunately, so in the absence of other good choices, I decided to go with it as I was about to enter the belly of a very ugly beast.**

The first thing Batgirl noticed was how awful the lair of the former Circus performer smelled when she entered from the transfer elevator. Waste dumping and feces was filling her nostrils, causing the Daughter of Darkness to grimace in disgust. Someone hadn't been taken care of their hygiene. 

"Prophet, I'm at Killer Croc's lair under the Intensive Treatment building. " Batgirl said. "I'm gonna collect the plant spores Ivy talked about. It looks like he's in an old sewer network. Send me the schematics. It's a damn maze out here."

 _"There's nothing on record."_ Prophet admitted as Batgirl placed a bat sonar beacon on a pipeline to make sure that she knows where the exit is _. "Barb, you sure about this?"_

She isn't. But there's no point of backing out now. "I don't have much of a choice. I've tuned the scanner to detect the spores required to create the anti Venom. It'll lead me to them."

_"What about the crocodile cannibal?"_

She got that covered as she used her explosive gel to lace the floor in case of the genetically altered inmate was gonna give chase. "Croc is no different from the animals we hunt in Gotham and animals like him just need the right trap and the right bait. I'll contact you when I'm done."

She walked on the floating platforms determined, only to stop herself when she heard inhuman growl emitting deep within the lair. Ok, the platforms will sendoff sound waves, giving out her location to Croc. She was gonna have to move as slowly as possible. She crouched down and walked silently down the route to the first Anti-Venom plant. She sampled a small dose of spores from the mold and to her displeasure, It doesn't contain enough spores to make the antidote. She was going to find more of the plants that contained the moles. 

"Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Time to feed the Croc!" A menacing and threatening growl was heard behind her back as Batgirl turned herself around as quick as a cat and threw a batarang that struck the shock collar around the charging cannibals neck. It shocked Croc enough to fall back into the water. 

"That was too close." Batgirl sighed as she went to collect some more samples. She was in the proverbial cat and mouse hunt, Croc is the cat and she is the mouse.

"That tickled, bitch!" The platforms suddenly exploded into pieces as Croc was now on the hunt, Batgirl ran as fast as she could away from the smash attack to the third mold plant. She gained enough spores to fill up half of the vial before using the line launcher to get across the the open water avoiding the sharp teeth from the crocodile looking criminal that tried to grab herre.

Some time later, she had filled the vial in her hand with enough spores to create the Anti-Venom at the bathouse. She pressed a button on her gauntlet to activate the beacon at the entrance. It was time to get the hell out of here.

"My caves will be your tomb!" Croc roared as the platforms was starting to blow up. It was a clear indication that she should leave now. Batgirl made a run to where she entered while avoiding the smash attacks by Croc only for a gate to shut her escape, seal her in. Croc thought he had her trapped. But it was the other way around.

"I'm gonna enjoy feasting on your bones!" Croc growled as he made a charge towards her with a predatory grin on his face. Just as he was a few meters away, she detonated the explosives with the press of a button.

"Noooo!!!!" Croc roared falling down into the hole that Batgirl created thanks to the explosive gels. "I will find you!"

Batgirl let out a sigh of relief as she left Croc's lair via crawling through the gate. "But not today." She pressed her the communication piece on her ear contacting her broker.

"Prophet, I've gained the spores. I'm heading to Bathouse."

-

**The Botanical Gardens**

**Elizabeth Arkham Glasshouse**

Ivy was still communicating with her vines, fully intent of living up to her word she gave out to Batgirl at the Main garden when her nose picked up a scent causing her to break out a smile.

"My Daywalker." She turned around to see a a brunette in dark clothing. She branded a few firearms along with a katana strapped to her back. She also supported fangs with sun glasses covered her gray eyes brought on by her condition. "I'm surprised you're able to slip through Joker's men."

"These warmbloods are no match for a half breed who cleans out vamps nest for a living. Besides, there are other ways to get in without being seen." The brunette said walking up to her. The Daywalker sat next to her lover on the edge of the fountain. "So I take it you've got early parole?"

"You might say that." Poison Ivy purred. "Lemme see those beautiful eyes of yours." She gently removed her Daywalkers sunglasses and stared into her eyes lovingly while cupping her cheek with her hand. "Wonderful. Just as I remembered."

She moved in for the kiss on her daywalker's soft lips as the two lovers doved into the fountain.

-

 **Bathouse**.

**Barbara Gordon: After cancelling the main course at the Lair, I was on the course of preventing the Joker's encore of his comedy act.**

After safe traveling back to the second base of operation via the batboat, Batgirl was full on work mode in creating the cure as she was typing on the keyboard while the computer screens showed the progress of the antidote when Prophet came through the comms.

 _"How's it going?"_ Prophet asked her.

To be honest, She felt like she wanted to pull her hair out from her head based on the amount of work she had to put on. "Difficult. Creating the Anti-Venom was a lot harder then I'd anticipated. The process is slow and doesn't produce much antidote."

_"And what's the good news?"_

"The good news is that the chemical will definitely reverse the Titan transformation." Batgirl replied taking out the customized syringe of the Anti-venom from the processor. "I've set up the Bat computer to run some more tests and mass producing more of the antidote."

Prophet let out a relieved sigh. Best news he had all day. _"That's a relief because something weird is going on in the Main Sewer Junction."  
_

Batgirl's interest peaked. "What do you mean?"

_"I don't know, I'll look into it and let you know what I've found."_

With a concerned look on her face, the Dark Dame put the Anti-Titan syringe into her belt and headed straight to the Batboat by the pier.

**Barbara Gordon: I have no Idea what Joker is planning with the water pumps but I have a funny feeling that has to do with the Titan he escaped with from the Production facility in the Gardens. I was afraid he had one of many aces in the hole.**

**-  
Main Sewer Junction.**

Batgirl had a grim look on her face as she was now in the lower parts of Arkham Island, seeing the water that was heavy polluted by Titan turn green. What the hell was the egomaniacal sociopath doing? Something was up.

"Prophet, have you got something on the Junction? Because right now, I'm seeing Titan being dumped into the water." Batgirl reported.

_"I don't think you're gonna wanna hear this."_

Batgirl's face scrunched into a frown. "I don't. But go ahead."

_"Joker's pumping the waste products of Titan into the water chamber." Prophet. "It's like a natural storage tank. Once it's full it releases the water into the Gotham River. It's good normally but this time..."_

"This time it's full of Titan." Batgirl confirmed what he was gonna say next. "How do I stop it?"

_"According to the plans I have on the Bat computer, there are three pump controls. Two of them are directly above you and the last one is right under the morgue of the Medical Facility at Arkham West."_

**Barbara Gordon: Just as I feared: The punchline was there for everyone to see. Every citizen in Gotham would wake up as mini Banes. It's nice to know that Joker hasn't lost his sense of humor since I returned to the field although I wished it would've involved less body bags and less hospitalization of the civilians. As much as it pains me to say this, I'd rather take one of his trademark jokes over his nefarious schemes any day of the god damn week.**

**-**

**East Pump Control room.**

Some of the Remaining men of the Jokers were on full alert guarding two of the three panels that controls the pumps. Their boss gave them a strict order to keep a look out for any surprise attacks from Batgirl who no doubt had discovered his scheme of dumping the Titan into the water chamber.

One of the men looked out over the ledge when Batgirl appeared out of nowhere, grabbing him by the throat as she lifted him up in the air and slammed him into the ground, alerting his friends of her presence.

"Batgirl's here!"

Before they could have a chance to react, Batgirl using her new improved skills during her rehabilitation training with Lady Shiva was able to knock out Joker thugs by striking the weak points of the body anatomy with precise blows and a minute later, the whole control room was clear. The Dark Dame took a moment to look around the room seeing the unmoving bodies of Joker's crew, cracking her neck to the sides as she took out her device to hack into the two panels simultaneously, disabling the pumps. 

-

**Arkham West.**

**West Pump Control Room**

Batgirl studied the Booby trapped panel at the West Pump Control at Arkham West right under the Medical Facility before using her device to override the panel just before the time limit of the booby traps, deactivating the last pump. 

Batgirl was now assured that Gotham wouldn't have their residents waking up as Banes in the morning. Hearing Footsteps, she drew out a batarang as she whirled around only to see Jericho walking into the room. 

"Easy Beloved." Jericho said raising his hands up in surrender.

Stance relaxing, Batgirl put the batarang she had in her hand back into the belt. "I could've hit knocked you out with this."

  
Jericho scoffed, priding on his inheritance. "Takes more than that to knock an Al Ghul out."

Shaking her head in bemusement Batgirl wondered briefly how she was able to put up with the ego he inhierted from his father. "Did you rescue the Guards?"

"Yeah, I did. They're safe." Jericho replied. Then nudged her to follow him back to the surface. "C'mon, I'm not waiting to see who else shows up."

**Barbara Gordon: I'd thought about saying Two Face but this wasn't the time for bad jokes.**

**-**

**Medical Facility.**

**Morgue**

**Barbara Gordon: Death is inevitable. It doesn't matter if you're young, middle aged, or old staying in a resting home. The cold hands of the Grim Reaper will come for you at any age. It's a fact of life.**

Once they got back to the Island surface, Jericho opened the door for Batgirl to step into the morgue. Memories of her previous visits to the GCPD morgue as punishment from her father whenever she did wrong flooded her mind, she recalled having to spend hours and upon hours among the bodies thinking about what she'd done. She can still smell decay of the decomposing bodies in the storage. 

Then A toy Fish that had its face painted like a clown, appeared out of one of the storage lockers letting out a laughter that is eerrily similar to one of Joker's. Batgirl and Jericho were not startled.

"What the hell was that?" Jericho asked his beloved of what had just occurred. Batgirl having gotten used to Joker's bad sense of humor explained it to him.

"A bad limerick. Joker makes a lot of those." Batgirl replied. 

Speak of the devil and they shall appear. _"Oh come on, Girl-Bats. I was just messing with you. Lighten up a little."_ Joker's voice came through speakers. _"You've been a very busy little girl tonight. For a Bat-Fake, you really stepped up to his shoes. But not to worry! The final preparations for my party is almost finished! It's a real doozy."_

Jericho let out an aggravated sigh. "You know, somedays I wish I would put a bullet through his head. "

"Do that and you'll prove him right. That we are as crazy as him. " Batgirl said looking at him critically. Jericho huffed. It was a recurrent argument about how they should deal with the crazed mad man. Being the daughter of Police Commissioner with ideals of justice and him the son of 600 year old eco terrorist with gray morals had led them to butt heads on more then one occasion. "The cycle of violence must be stopped."

"Oh, don't give me that Gandhi talk." .Jericho said. "How many lives would that psychotic clown destroy before he gets put down to the ground for good?"

Batgirl was trying to make him see logic. "Jericho. Don't you think I sometimes want to pick up a gun and empty the clip into his chest seeing the amount of graveyards he's filled? If there's anyone in Gotham that has more than enough reason to want Joker dead, Its..." Realizing that she was about to expose herself, she took a deep breath, regaining her composure. "There's not a damn day that I don't think about subjecting him to endless torture for everything he's done. But it's not up to me to decide nor you. We have to be better than him."

Jericho was agitated by his beloved's persistence of sparing the criminal madman continually. "Why? I'm not talking about offing people like Penguin or Dent. I'm talking about him. Just _him_." Jericho walked up to her. "I would gladly become his judge, jury and executioner simply because... Because what he did to you."

Just like that Batgirl's mind wandered back to the hospital room at Gotham General after what had taken place at her apartment, at her most weakest all those years ago.

_-_

_**5 years ago** _

_**Gotham General.** _

_**Barbara Gordon: When I woke up in the Hospital after Joker shot me at my doorstep that day, I thought to myself that was it. My late night activities as Batgirl was over. No more making white lies to my father who is the Police Commissioner of GCPD. No more running off the rooftops. No more Batgirl. It has a certain irony to it. My ever growing paranoia of being found out by my dear ol' dad as Batgirl was squashed away empathetically by Joker shoot me in the stomach, all because the I was Commissioner's daughter, not Batgirl.** _

_Batman with a stoic look was in Barbara's room at Gotham General staring at her sleeping form. Even he didn't show it he was seething on the inside. Joker's taken it to the limit this time. He could've crippled her and nearly did from what Jim told him earlier. He made it personal. First Jason and now Barb._

_"Barbara? Barbara, can you hear me? It's me, Bruce." Batman spoke to her softly and quietly. Barb groggily opened her eyelids upon hearing the voice of her idol and mentor._

_"Bruce..." Barb said quietly, coming to her senses. Then everything came to her like a freight train, remembering why she was here in the first place. "Oh god, Bruce. "_

_**Barbara Gordon: it was like a flashbulb lighting up in my head. The memories of Joker's heinous punchline replayed over and over and over again. I wanted to tear my mind away from it but I couldn't.** _

_**-** _

**Present Day**

**Arkham West**

**Medical Facility.**

**Morgue.**

In a moment of a out of character thing happened, Barbara forgot her responsibilities as she jumped on Jericho pressing her lips to his. She wanted to forget that night and feel something else.

**Barbara Gordon: 'The Things That I Want' by Barbara Gordon. A best selling Novel. A overview look to see the sun. Join the GCPD. A family. A husband. Two kids. Right then and now, more than anything, I wanted him. To escape the pain of the trauma I've endured.**

Stunned at first, Jericho recovered by responding to the kiss as he pushed her against the wall. The surroundings faded into the background as the temperature rose up from the fiery passion that was taking place in the morgue.

But unfortunately, the passionate make out was coming to an abrupt end as the need for air became too much and the two love bird separated from each other, regaining their equilibriums.

With a sheepish look, Batgirl blamed herself for losing her self control while Jericho didn't like taking advantage of her emotional state leaving an awkward situation for them to be in at this moment of time. 

"Barb..." Jericho wanted to say something, anything really to ease the tension. But Batgirl held up a hand to stop him.  
"Don't." 

And with that, Batgirl exited the Morgue with a uncomfortable look on her face.

**Barbara Gordon: Every relationship has its problems. Nothing is perfect in this wicked world.**

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Comment kudos and bookmark for more updates.


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